From the first corpse till he that died today,
'This must be so.' We pray you throw to earth
This unprevailing107 woe, and think of us
As of a father; for let the world take note,
You are the most immediate109 to our throne,
And with no less nobility of love
Than that which dearest father bears his son,
Do I impart towards you. For112 your intent
In going back to school in Wittenberg113,
It is most retrograde114 to our desire,
And we beseech you bend you115 to remain
Here in the cheer and comfort of our eye,
Our chiefest courtier, cousin, and our son.
GERTRUDE Let not thy mother lose her prayers, Hamlet:
I prithee stay with us, go not to Wittenberg.
HAMLET I shall in all my best obey you, madam.
KING Why, 'tis a loving and a fair reply.
Be as ourself in Denmark.-- Madam, come:
This gentle and unforced accord123 of Hamlet
Sits smiling to my heart, in grace whereof124,
No jocund health that Denmark125 drinks today
But the great cannon to the clouds shall tell126,
And the king's rouse the heavens shall bruit127 again,
Re-speaking128 earthly thunder. Come away.
Exeunt. Hamlet remains
HAMLET O, that this too too solid flesh would melt,
Thaw and resolve130 itself into a dew!
Or that the Everlasting131 had not fixed
His canon132 gainst self-slaughter! O God, O God!
How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable