Act 1.9
(In King Hamlet’s private room. He speaks as Gertrude and Claudius enter. He opens his arms to first her and then him and they three embrace as he speaks)
King:
(Gertrude enters embrace) My ward, my daughter, my wife, my queen, (Claudius enters embrace) my brother, my son, my scholar, my prince (brings them into a three way hug) and to both of you, your king. We three are a mighty clan into this dark night we bring.
Claudius:
What, my lord, brings us here this night, aside from your embrace?
King:
It is a cause to which we need give some pause. It is not a fruitless chase.
Gertrude:
What is the quarry, my sweet lord, to which our chase is entered?
King:
It is a quarry quite old and new and one you may wish to censure.
Claudius:
To you we swear our fealty.
Gertrude:
To you we swear our love.
King:
There is nothing in reality that I am more in need thereof. I am brought to an extremity from which I will surely fall. Like the angels who from heaven fell, I am damned unless you two can answer to my call. (He lets them go. They sit a table built for three, a triangle)
Death does come to all of us in sadness and in grief. Yet our death may bring escape and a deep sense of relief. It is the final remedy from all of life's disease. Sometimes we must make it so until the dead have ease.
Our father was in madness caught. It was a mercy when he died. Still in memory of the man he was, the whole of Denmark cried. It is how we must feel for kings, for they have rule o'er us. To all our nations order bring, or disorder in would rush. For men are deep competitive; they won’t do what they ought. If we leave them to their head, life is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short. But when a king to madness descends, he ceases well to lead. If that come, and to that end, in may be death he needs.
The king will live in another man. The king is dead. Long live the king. These phrases to our very our very soul do ring. The king is thus eternal. Some man elected may degrade, the office placed within, and so we must honor and preserve the truth of the ones God has selected. To make this end, we must defend the king's blood from that infected with nothing more than ambition's sore end for naught but power. If that's achieved, the nation grieves and for that rule will suffer. I feel the truth of rule in me and in the blood I carry. That's why I came to live my life and once again to marry. To keep the seed alive in king and the king inside the seed. This has become my primary thought and one that carries my greatest need.
Gertrude:
I am come to serve you thus, and in that serving feel, between us, in our love, we can make an heir come real.
King:
Dear Gertrude you have given me a strength I find quite enviable. It has only proved, and to my reproof, that what I give's not viable. There is no child, there is no son, there is nothing but desire. I will die and with me fly the hope of king inspired but the very worth of king and in majestic humility proves unto the state he rules in justice and utility.
Gertrude:
(Gestures at the bottle the medical practitioner left) Is it in that vial that you feel we'll find the answer for your need? You can drink, or I can drink, or both can do this deed. Potions have their magic in our brain and body. If this will be, it will set you free, and we will not feel sorry.
King:
It will serve but in another way than that man intended. Into a plan at my command this magic will be blended.
Claudius:
My lord and liege, I do attend to every word you say, but brother this time seems intimate, and I should go away.
King:
If you should leave, then I would grieve for all my thoughts would scatter. Your presence here, my very dear, is of the core of what's the matter.
Claudius:
Then please open full your mind to us, so we can enter therein.
King:
Your request becomes my behest, and so I will begin.
I have a scheme that I have derived, or better said conceived. It will be hard for you to scope and still to both believe. It satisfies a deal of my desire. In this I feel most driven. It puts you both in an awkward place from which there's no escaping. Yet I promise you, if we can all be true, what I ask is not disgracing.
My father’s ghost has his revenge for which he calls in mind. I am disgraced as a man and king; I am barren as you find.
I am aged and I know, I have not improved with years. I am aged, known success days past, but my present does me reprove. If I cannot leave a king and heir ruling here behind me, all I've done will stink--Dung and odor will describe me.
Old Fortinbras is dead you know. Young Fortinbras but lives and grows. When he reaches majority, great arms he’ll take and seek revenge on me and Denmark. Do we have a weak disabled king to make all of this go right? That's why we make the best of it when we make our plan tonight. You will, in truth, be loyal thus, to me and to your country. I know that you will need to fuss but beside all else and sundry, this is the moment of your lives that will sign success. It is the only time in your lives, that greatness you will address. No one will know, but we few three, and that's a rightness too. There can be no hint or sign of what will be the truth. The son she bears will be my son for all the world to see, and you will forgo what will be done by you, a goodly man, so very naturally.
I will leave you here tonight in body if not in spirit. You will discover the act of being lovers although you don't want near it. Gertrude has been my queen alone, and chastity your mistress. I know that act will try you out, and that worry I don't dismiss.
(Gertrude and Claudius stand speechless. King Hamlet gathers them into a three way hug)
You have both expressed your love for me as father, brother, lover, husband—and thus we make a clan. But in all remember this I must be more than a man. I must be king, and the king I serve as does any other subject. Tonight I ask you for a boon to which, in fear, you'll object. I'll take your objections into hand and will deal with them withal. This is a night when my right as king in you will rise or fall.
We will make the kingdom safe and sound. Thus we three will be joined in a marriage true. The king, the queen, and my brother, daughter, son and man will in the sight of God plight our loving troth. In that way, all is saved, as a gift of our marriage wrought.
King Hamlet exits