Hamlet and Horatio: A Tragic Encounter

HOR: So Guildenstern and Rosencrantz go to 't.

[...] Why, what a king is this!

[EVERYBODY enters]

CLA: Come, Hamlet, come, and take this hand from me.

[KING CLAUDIUS puts LAERTES' hand into HAMLET's]

LAE: To my revenge: but in my terms of honour I stand aloof; and will no reconcilement,

CLA: Set me the stoops of wine upon that table. If Hamlet give the first or second hit, Or quit in answer of the third exchange, Let all the battlements their ordnance fire: The king shall drink to Hamlet's better breath; And in the cup an union shall he throw, Richer than that which four successive kings In Denmark's crown have worn. Give me the cups; And let the kettle to the trumpet speak, The trumpet to the cannoneer without, The cannons to the heavens, the heavens to earth, 'Now the king dunks to Hamlet.' Come, begin: And you, the judges, bear a wary eye. H

[They play and HAMLET hits LAERTES]

LAE: Well; again.

CLA: Stay; give me drink. Hamlet, this pearl is thine;

Here's to thy health.

Give him the cup.

[CLAUDIUS grabs the cup]

[QUEEN takes cup]

QUE: The Queen carouses to thy fortune, Hamlet.

CLA: Gertrude, do not drink.

[QUEEN drinks]

CLA: It is the poisoned cup. It is too late.