Act 2.13
(Claudius, Gertrude, and Polonius in the king’s chamber)
Polonius:
The king is dead. Long live the king.
Claudius:
Please speak as a friend as well as a valued advisor. Please don’t play in that public way. We’re alone and no one’s the wiser.
Polonius:
I’ll speak to you but clear and plain the thoughts that I must speak. In some way, this well may cause you two pain, but it is good from bad I seek.
Claudius
We are open to your words for in our trust you keep.
Polonius:
I will need each jot of that, for I have come to say a thing. This will sound strange lest I arrange to it some clarity to bring.
Gertrude:
Then say it short, and I’ll have no retort lest you are absurd. That won’t be the case, for our trust we place in you so much that we value every word.
Polonius:
The kingdom has a need for king, and in you we do now have.
Claudius:
Only king until we can bring young Hamlet fit to rule.
Polonius:
That will take time to make that climb. He’s only just in school.
Claudius:
What time it takes, we will make, and let him soon succeed.
Polonius:
That might be stopped if we do not end some other’s greed.
Gertrude:
Do others doubt the new king’s reign? He is his brother, true. I cannot see how they cannot be loyal to the truth.
Polonius:
Greed can cloud the best of eyes, and power do harm to thinking. There are those in court who will resort to divisions in our kingdom and have started with their scheming. There are those who wish to place the crown upon queen. They say she is the one to stay in power to her boy’s supreme.
Gertrude:
In Demark some wish a woman rule? That seems most unlikely. They love their women very much, and have contempt but just politely.
Polonius:
They do not wish a fact in rule but only the appearance. The queen will sit on the throne, they think, but they will rule all business. They will act as the power behind the throne you sit. Young Hamlet will never gain the throne, for the true rulers won’t submit.
Claudius:
How to we forestall this mob of violating liars? We cannot allow this thing you say every to transpire. We have given all we have to see this land secure. Now you tell of a scheme to make it all impure.
Polonius:
You have it in your hands to act and in that action gain. You two will marry, now, at once, and end this dangerous game.
Gertrude:
My husband has been barely dead, barely in the ground. You would have our wedding fast, and it would ugly sound. It will be as if we two had wanted death for profit. He’s have the throne and we some love that would be rumored ‘round. But a month is just too brief. We must wait a year instead. I can’t see beyond my grief. It’s my husband who is dead.
Polonius:
If we do not act right now, the story will be told. The country will be torn apart by war, tortured to its soul. The marriage will find a welcome in the hearts and minds of most. They will see it as an act of love for them and not a sign of loss. They will gain stability, something all desire. They will believe most anything if we can make that state transpire.
Claudius:
And what of us? Do we not count as people in this equation?
Polonius:
You count now most as king and queen, and that is no evasion. There is no safe retirement for either of you two. If we have strife, not any life will feel the least secure. You say that you have given much, and that can’t come to naught. If you shirk this final work there’s a lesson you’ll be taught. Almost to win becomes a sin when in the end you lose. Everything you did for the king will come to a bitter end. You have to choose, so the only news is that a new reign begins.
Gertrude:
There will be sorrow in this state that’s supposed to be great joy. Our sadness in our marriage vows will be seen and will annoy.
Polonius:
In appearance you must show a kind of happiness. In this state, you will act great, but you’ll have no redress.
Claudius:
You ask us to lie, and I do reply that you ask us for what’s unreal.
Polonius:
My last appeal would be to make joy real even if not the truth.
(Gertrude turns to Claudius and holds our her hand. He takes it.)