‘Oh, I had almost thought that!’ exclaimed Hamlet. The serpent that did take your father’s life now wears his crown.’ Then his voice came again, as steady and cold as it had been up until now. So the ear of Denmark has been grossly abused by a fraudulent account of my death.’ The ghost paused again and seemed to be overwhelmed by the thought he had just pronounced. Now Hamlet, hear: It’s been reported that, sleeping in my orchard, a snake bit me. ‘I find you willing, the ghost said, ‘and if you didn’t act on this you would be more drowsy than the fat weed that roots itself in the comfort of the banks of Lethe, the river of forgetfulness. ‘Tell me quickly so that, with wings as swift as meditation or thoughts of love, I may sweep to my revenge.’ ‘ Murder most foul, as murder always is, but this one was most foul, strange and unnatural.’ ‘….revenge his foul and most unnatural murder.’ Listen, oh listen! If you ever loved your dear father ….’ But this eternal torture is not for ears of flesh and blood. But that I am forbidden to tell the secrets of my prison-house I could tell a tale whose lightest word would shrivel up your soul, freeze your young blood, make your eyes start from their sockets and your hair stand up on end like the quills of a frightened porcupine. ‘I am your father’s spirit, doomed for a certain time to walk the night, and for the day to burn in fires, till the foul crimes done during my lifetime have been burnt and purged away. ‘You will also have to revenge when you hear it.’
Listen carefully to what I’m going to tell you.’ ‘The time has almost come when I must surrender myself to sulphur and tormenting flames.’ It was his father’s voice, but cold and expressionless.
Hamlet found himself looking into the blank, staring white face of the man who had been his father. ‘Where are you leading me to?’ he called. Hamlet held it in sight, afraid that it would disappear. Each Shakespeare’s play name links to a range of resources about each play: Character summaries, plot outlines, example essays and famous quotes, soliloquies and monologues: All’s Well That Ends Well Antony and Cleopatra As You Like It The Comedy of Errors Coriolanus Cymbeline Hamlet Henry IV Part 1 Henry IV Part 2 Henry VIII Henry VI Part 1 Henry VI Part 2 Henry VI Part 3 Henry V Julius Caesar King John King Lear Loves Labour’s Lost Macbeth Measure for Measure The Merchant of Venice The Merry Wives of Windsor A Midsummer Night’s Dream Much Ado About Nothing Othello Pericles Richard II Richard III Romeo & Juliet The Taming of the Shrew The Tempest Timon of Athens Titus Andronicus Troilus & Cressida Twelfth Night The Two Gentlemen of Verona The Winter’s Tale This list of Shakespeare plays brings together all 38 plays in alphabetical order.