Get even more from the Folger - The Folger SHAKESPEARE

1 Get even more from the FolgerYou can get your own copy of this text to keep. Purchase a full copyto get the text, plus explanatory notes, illustrations, and more . Buy a copyFolger SHAKESPEARE the Director of the Folger ShakespeareLibraryTextual IntroductionSynopsisCharacters in the PlayACT 1 Scene 1 Scene 2 Scene 3 Scene 4 Scene 5 ACT 2 Scene 1 Scene 2 ACT 3 Scene 1 Scene 2 Scene 3 Scene 4 ACT 4 Scene 1 Scene 2 Scene 3 Scene 4 Scene 5 Scene 6 Scene 7 ACT 5 Scene 1 Scene 2 ContentsMichael WitmoreDirector, Folger SHAKESPEARE LibraryIt is hard to imagine a world without SHAKESPEARE . Since theircomposition four hundred years ago, SHAKESPEARE s plays and poemshave traveled the globe, inviting those who see and read his works tomake them their of the New Folger Editions are part of this ongoing processof taking up SHAKESPEARE , finding our own thoughts and feelingsin language that strikes us as old or unusual and, for that very reason,new.

2 We still struggle to keep up with a writer who could think amile a minute, whose words paint pictures that shift like expertly edited texts are presented to the public as a resourcefor study, artistic adaptation, and enjoyment. By making the classictexts of the New Folger Editions available in electronic form as TheFolger SHAKESPEARE (formerly Folger Digital Texts), we place atrusted resource in the hands of anyone who wants New Folger Editions of SHAKESPEARE s plays, which are the basisfor the texts realized here in digital form, are special because of theirorigin. The Folger SHAKESPEARE Library in Washington, DC, is thesingle greatest documentary source of SHAKESPEARE s works. Anunparalleled collection of early modern books, manuscripts, andartwork connected to SHAKESPEARE , the Folger s holdings have beenconsulted extensively in the preparation of these texts.

3 The Editionsalso reflect the expertise gained through the regular performance ofShakespeare s works in the Folger s Elizabethan want to express my deep thanks to editors Barbara Mowat and PaulWerstine for creating these indispensable editions of SHAKESPEARE sworks, which incorporate the best of textual scholarship with arichness of commentary that is both inspired and engaging. Readerswho want to know more about SHAKESPEARE and his plays can followthe paths these distinguished scholars have tread by visiting theFolger either in-person or online, where a range of physical anddigital resources exists to supplement the material in these texts. Icommend to you these words, and hope that they the Director of the Folger ShakespeareLibraryUntil now, with the release of The Folger SHAKESPEARE (formerlyFolger Digital Texts), readers in search of a free online text ofShakespeare s plays had to be content primarily with using theMoby Text, which reproduces a late-nineteenth century version ofthe plays.

4 What is the difference? Many ordinary readers assume thatthere is a single text for the plays: what SHAKESPEARE wrote. ButShakespeare s plays were not published the way modern novels orplays are published today: as a single, authoritative text. In somecases, the plays have come down to us in multiple publishedversions, represented by various Quartos (Qq) and by the greatcollection put together by his colleagues in 1623, called the FirstFolio (F). There are, for example, three very different versions ofHamlet, two of King Lear, Henry V, Romeo and Juliet, and choose which version to use as their base text, and thenamend that text with words, lines or speech prefixes from the otherversions that, in their judgment, make for a better or more editorial decisions involve choices about whether anunfamiliar word could be understood in light of other writings of theperiod or whether it should be changed; decisions about words thatmade it into SHAKESPEARE s text by accident through four hundredyears of printings and misprinting; and even decisions based oncultural preference and taste.

5 When the Moby Text was created,for example, it was deemed improper and indecent for Mirandato chastise Caliban for having attempted to rape her. (See TheTempest, : Abhorred slave,/Which any print of goodness wilt nottake,/Being capable of all ill! I pitied ). All Shakespeareeditors at the time took the speech away from her and gave it to herfather, editors of the Moby SHAKESPEARE produced their text longbefore scholars fully understood the proper grounds on which tomake the thousands of decisions that SHAKESPEARE editors face. TheFolger Library SHAKESPEARE Editions, on which the FolgerShakespeare texts depend, make this editorial process as nearlytransparent as is possible, in contrast to older texts, like the Moby ,which hide editorial interventions.

6 The reader of the FolgerShakespeare knows where the text has been altered because editorialinterventions are signaled by square brackets (for example, fromOthello: If she in chains of magic were not bound, ), half-squarebrackets (for example, from Henry V: With blood and sword andfire to win your right, ), or angle brackets (for example, fromTextual IntroductionBy Barbara Mowat and Paul WerstineHamlet: O farewell, honest soldier. Who hath relieved/you? ). Atany point in the text, you can hover your cursor over a bracket formore the Folger SHAKESPEARE texts are edited in accord withtwenty-first century knowledge about SHAKESPEARE s texts, the Folgerhere provides them to readers, scholars, teachers, actors, directors,and students, free of charge, confident of their quality as texts of theplays and pleased to be able to make this contribution to the studyand enjoyment of before the start of Hamlet set the stage for tragedy.

7 When theking of Denmark, Prince Hamlet s father, suddenly dies, Hamlet smother, Gertrude, marries his uncle Claudius, who becomes the spirit who claims to be the ghost of Hamlet s father describes hismurder at the hands of Claudius and demands that Hamlet avengethe killing. When the councilor Polonius learns from his daughter,Ophelia, that Hamlet has visited her in an apparently distracted state,Polonius attributes the prince s condition to lovesickness, and he setsa trap for Hamlet using Ophelia as confirm Claudius s guilt, Hamlet arranges for a play that mimicsthe murder; Claudius s reaction is that of a guilty man. Hamlet, nowfree to act, mistakenly kills Polonius, thinking he is sends Hamlet away as part of a deadly Polonius s death, Ophelia goes mad and later drowns.

8 Hamlet,who has returned safely to confront the king, agrees to a fencingmatch with Ophelia s brother, Laertes, who secretly poisons his ownrapier. At the match, Claudius prepares poisoned wine for Hamlet,which Gertrude unknowingly drinks; as she dies, she accusesClaudius, whom Hamlet kills. Then first Laertes and then Hamletdie, both victims of Laertes GHOSTHAMLET, Prince of Denmark, son of the late King Hamlet and Queen GertrudeQUEEN GERTRUDE, widow of King Hamlet, now married to ClaudiusKING CLAUDIUS, brother to the late King HamletOPHELIALAERTES, her brotherPOLONIUS, father of Ophelia and Laertes, councillor to King ClaudiusREYNALDO, servant to PoloniusHORATIO, Hamlet s friend and confidantFORTINBRAS, Prince of NorwayA Captain in Fortinbras s armyAmbassadors to Denmark from EnglandPlayers who take the roles of Prologue, Player King, Player Queen,and Lucianus in The Murder of GonzagoTwo MessengersSailorsGravediggerGravedigger s companionDoctor of DivinityAttendants, Lords, Guards.

9 Musicians, Laertes s Followers, Soldiers,OfficersCharacters in the Playcourtiers at the Danish courtVOLTEMANDCORNELIUSROSENCRANTZGUILDE NSTERNOSRICG entlemenA LordDanish soldiersFRANCISCOBARNARDOMARCELLUSBARNAR DOFRANCISCOBARNARDOFRANCISCOBARNARDOFRAN CISCOBARNARDOFRANCISCOBARNARDOFRANCISCOB ARNARDOFRANCISCOHORATIOE nter Barnardo and Francisco, two sentinels. Who s there? Nay, answer me. Stand and unfold yourself. Long live the King! Barnardo? He. You come most carefully upon your hour. Tis now struck twelve. Get thee to bed, Francisco. For this relief much thanks. Tis bitter cold, And I am sick at heart. Have you had quiet guard? Not a mouse stirring. Well, good night. If you do meet Horatio and Marcellus, The rivals of my watch, bid them make Horatio and Marcellus.

10 I think I hear them. Stand ho! Who is there? Friends to this 1 Scene 1 FTLN 0001 FTLN 0002 FTLN 0003 FTLN 0004 FTLN 00055 FTLN 0006 FTLN 0007 FTLN 0008 FTLN 0009 FTLN 001010 FTLN 0011 FTLN 0012 FTLN 0013 FTLN 0014 FTLN 001515 FTLN 00169 HamletACT 1. SC. 1 MARCELLUSFRANCISCOMARCELLUSFRANCISCOF rancisco And liegemen to the Dane. Give you good night. O farewell, honest soldier. Who hath relieved you? Barnardo hath my place. Give you good night. Holla, Barnardo. Say, what, is Horatio there? A piece of him. Welcome, Horatio. Welcome, good Marcellus. What, has this thing appeared again tonight? I have seen nothing. Horatio says tis but our fantasy And will not let belief take hold of him Touching this dreaded sight twice seen of us.