| The play began. In the play the king and queen were talking on the bench in the beautiful garden. The queen said to the king, "I will love you forever. I will never marry another man if you should die before me. Only women that kill their husbands marry again. " The king in the play was very glad to hear this. As the king fell asleep, the queen left him alone. Just after she left, the king's brother came near the sleeping king and poured a deadly poison into his ear. He was soon killed by this cunning brother who had long wanted to become king and marry the queen.
Seeing this scene, Claudius turned pale and became very angry. He shouted, "Stop the play at once. " He stood up and went out of the room with the queen.
Horatio and Hamlet saw the king show every sign of fear and anger. Hamlet was now quite sure that the ghost had told him the truth. He himself became excited and firmly decided to revenge his father as soon as he could. When the queen came back into her room, she was very worried about her son, who had made the king furious. She wanted to know why Hamlet asked the group of players to show such a disgraceful play before the king. She sent for Hamlet.
这出戏开始演出了。戏里的国王和皇后正坐在美丽的花园里的长椅上聊天。皇后对国王说：“我永远爱你！万一你比我先死的话，我决不会再嫁给其他的男人。只有杀死他们丈夫的女人才会再嫁。”戏中的国王听到这席话很高兴。国王睡着时，皇后留下他独自一人。就在皇后离去之后，国王的弟弟靠近熟睡中的国王，把致命的毒药倒入耳朵里面。国王很快就被这个长久以来一直渴望成为国王并且娶到皇后的狡猾的弟弟毒死。
克劳迪斯一看到这幕戏，脸色变得苍白，而且感到非常愤怒。他大声叫喊：“立刻停演。”他站起来跟皇后走出这个房间。
荷瑞修和哈姆雷特看到国王显露出种种害怕、愤怒的迹象。哈姆雷特此时十分确信鬼魂告诉他的真相。他本人显得很激动，并下定决定要尽快替他父亲报仇。皇后回到他的房间里时，很为激怒国王的儿子担忧。她想知道为什么哈姆雷特要这群演员在国王面前表演这么可耻的戏剧。她派人去请哈姆雷特过来。
Hamlet hurriedly walked to her room where she was uneasily waiting for him. On the way to his mother' s room, Hamlet saw Claudius kneeling down to pray in his room. He thought he could kill him right then. But he did not do it. He said to himself, "If I kill him when he is praying to God, he will not go to hell. I had better kill him when he is angry or doing something bad. Then he is sure to go to hell. " So he stopped thinking of killing Claudius for the moment.
Hamlet did not know that the doubting king had commanded Polonius to hide behind the curtains in the queen' s room so that he could see what might happen there. As soon as Hamlet came into her room, his mother began to scold him for what he had done to the king. She said angrily, "You have made your father very angry. You must beg his pardon."
Hamlet would not listen to her, but answered back. He said, "It is you who are to blame. You married that unkind and unkingly uncle of mine so soon after my father' s death.
You should be ashamed of your deed. I will never accept him as my father. He does not deserve to be King of Denmark. I will tell you again. It is not I but you and that dirty Claudius that should repent."
哈姆雷特匆忙地走向她的房间，那时她正在房间内不安地等候他。在去他母亲房间的路上，哈姆雷特看到克劳迪斯跪在他的房间内祷告。他心想他现在可以杀了克劳迪斯，但是他并没有这样做。他对自己说：“我若在他向上帝祷告的时候杀了他，他将不会下地狱。我最好在他生气或是做错事的时候杀他，这样他就一定会下地狱。” 于是他此刻先抛开想杀克劳迪斯的念头。
哈姆雷特不知道这位疑心的国王早已命令普罗尼尔斯躲在皇后房内的窗帘后面，以便他能看到那里可能发生的事。哈姆雷特一走进她的房间，他的母亲就为他对国王所做的事开始责骂他。她很生气地说：“你激怒了你的父亲，你必须去请求他原谅你。”
哈姆雷特不听她的话，反而顶嘴说：“该受责备的是你。你在我父亲去世后这么快就嫁给我那个心怀不仁、不配当国王的叔叔。你才应该为你的行为感到羞耻。我绝不接受他做我的父亲。他没有资格当丹麦的国王。我再告诉你一遍，该忏悔的不是我，而是你和那个卑劣的克劳迪斯。” |