As an instructor of English 102, First-Year Composition, for more than seventy-five times, I have read and taught Hamlet repeatedly. I have come to know the play extensively and, as a result, when we read the play aloud in class I have to stop the students repeatedly to explain various arcane references that are not explained in any single version of the play. For several years I have threatened to do my own complete version of Hamlet; finally, I have. The result is The Complete Hamlet: An Annotated Edition of the Shakespeare Play. It has taken me years of study and application. My hope is that the play will, thus, be more accessible to the general reader. The Complete Hamlet An Annotated Edition Of The Shakespeare Play By Donald J. Richardson AuthorHouse Copyright © 2012 Donald J. Richardson All right reserved. ISBN: 978-1-4685-5217-1 Contents Act One.........................1Act Two.........................45Act Three.......................85Act Four........................138Act Five........................176Works Cited.....................219 Chapter One ACT I SCENE I. Elsinore. A platform before the castle. FRANCISCO at his post. Enter to him BERNARDO BERNARDO 1 Who's there? FRANCISCO 2 Nay, answer me: stand, and unfold yourself. " You answer me . Francisco is on watch; Bernardo has come to relieve him." Unfold yourself : make known who you are" (Riverside, 1,189). "A password" (Cambridge, 1,047) BERNARDO 3 Long live the king! "Perhaps a password, perhaps simply ... to allow the voice to be recognized" (Cambridge, 1,047) FRANCISCO 4 Bernardo? BERNARDO 5 He. FRANCISCO 6 You come most carefully upon your hour. Why don't you ever come early? You're always late. BERNARDO 7 'Tis now struck twelve; get thee to bed, Francisco. FRANCISCO 8 For this relief much thanks: 'tis bitter cold, 9 And I am sick at heart. BERNARDO 10 Have you had quiet guard? FRANCISCO 11 Not a mouse stirring. A cliché today but not when Shakespeare wrote it. BERNARDO 12 Well, good night. 13 If you do meet Horatio and Marcellus, 14 The rivals of my watch, bid them make haste. Rivals : sharers or partners FRANCISCO 15 I think I hear them. Stand, ho! Who's there? Enter HORATIO and MARCELLUS HORATIO 16 Friends to this ground. MARCELLUS 17 And liegemen to the Dane. "Loyal subjects to the King of Denmark" (Riverside, 1,189) FRANCISCO 18 Give you good night. Give: "God give" (Riverside, 1,189) MARCELLUS 19 O, farewell, honest soldier: 20 Who hath relieved you? FRANCISCO 21 Bernardo has my place. 22 Give you good night. Exit MARCELLUS 23 Holla! Bernardo! BERNARDO 24 Say, 25 What, is Horatio there? HORATIO 26 A piece of him. A joke as Horatio doesn't want to be there. BERNARDO 27 Welcome, Horatio: welcome, good Marcellus. MARCELLUS 28 What, has this thing appear'd again to-night? BERNARDO 29 I have seen nothing. MARCELLUS 30 Horatio says 'tis but our fantasy, Fantasy : "fancy" (Wright, 2) 31 And will not let belief take hold of him 32 Touching this dreaded sight, twice seen of us: 33 Therefore I have entreated him along 34 With us to watch the minutes of this night; 35 That if again this apparition come, 36 He may approve our eyes and speak to it. Approve : "corroborate" (Riverside, 1,189) HORATIO 37 Tush, tush, 'twill not appear. BERNARDO 38 Sit down awhile; 39 And let us once again assail your ears, 40 That are so fortified against our story 41 What we have two nights seen. HORATIO 42 Well, sit we down, 43 And let us hear Bernardo speak of this. BERNARDO 44 Last night of all, 45 When yond same star that's westward from the pole Pole : "pole star" (Riverside, 1,190) 46 Had made his course to illume that part of heaven His: "its ... neuter possessive singular in Shakespeare's day" (Riverside, 1,190) 47 Where now it burns, Marcellus and myself, 48 The bell then beating one,— Enter Ghost "The Ghost is a spirit that can take on any shape for any purpose" (Asimov, 82) MARCELLUS 49 Peace, break thee off; look, where it comes again! Quiet; hush! BERNARDO 50 In the same figure, like the king that's dead. Like: "In the likeness of" (Riverside, 1,190) MARCELLUS 51 Thou art a scholar; speak to it, Horatio. Scholar: "One had to address spirits in Latin" (Riverside, 1,048) BERNARDO 52 Looks it not like the king? mark it, Horatio. HORATIO 53 Most like: it harrows me with fear and wonder. BERNARDO 54 It would be spoke to. "A ghost had to be spoken to before it could speak" (Riverside, 1,190) MARCELLUS 55 Question it, Horatio. HORATIO 56 What art thou that usurp'st this time of night, Usurp'st : "To take without right" (Asimov, 82) 57 Together with that fair and warlike form 58 In which the majesty of buried Denmark 59 Did sometimes march? by heaven I charge thee, speak! MARCELLUS 60 It is offended. BERNARDO 61 See, it stalks away! HORATIO 62 Stay! speak, speak! I charge thee, speak! Exit Ghost MARCELL