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The ghost of the King of Denmark tells his son, Hamlet, to avenge his death.

Page 186 of 250
Table of Contents

Act IV

Laertes
Do you see this, O God?
King
Laertes, I must commune with your grief,
Or you deny me right. Go but apart,
Make choice of whom your wisest friends you will,
And they shall hear and judge ’twixt you and me:
If by direct or by collateral hand
They find us touch’d, we will our kingdom give,
Our crown, our life, and all that we can ours,
To you in satisfaction; but if not,
Be you content to lend your patience to us,
And we shall jointly labour with your soul
To give it due content.
Laertes
Let this be so;
His means of death, his obscure funeral⁠—
No trophy, sword, nor hatchment o’er his bones,
No noble rite nor formal ostentation⁠—
Cry to be heard, as ’twere from heaven to earth,
That I must call’t in question.
King
So you shall;
And where the offence is let the great axe fall.
I pray you, go with me.
Exeunt.
186