Page:Hamlet (1917) Yale.djvu/101
And what's in prayer but this two-fold force, 48
To be forestalled, ere we come to fall,
Or pardon'd, being down? Then, I'll look up;
My fault is past. But, O! what form of prayer
Can serve my turn? 'Forgive me my foul murder?' 52
That cannot be; since I am still possess'd
Of those effects for which I did the murder.
My crown, mine own ambition, and my queen.
May one be pardon'd and retain the offence? 56
In the corrupted currents of this world
Offence's gilded hand may shove by justice,
And oft 'tis seen the wicked prize itself
Buys out the law; but 'tis not so above; 60
There is no shuffling, there the action lies
In his true nature, and we ourselves compell'd
Even to the teeth and forehead of our faults
To give in evidence. What then? what rests?
Try what repentance can: what can it not? 65
Yet what can it, when one can not repent?
O wretched state! O bosom black as death!
O limed soul, that struggling to be free 68
Art more engaged! Help, angels! make assay;
Bow, stubborn knees; and heart with strings of steel
Be soft as sinews of the new-born babe.
All may be well. [Retires and kneels.]
Enter Hamlet.
Ham. Now might I do it pat, now he is praying; 73
And now I'll do 't: and so he goes to heaven;
49 forestalled: prevented in anticipation
54 effects: i.e., things acquired by an action
55 ambition: i.e., the realization of ambition (so also offence in 56)
58 gilded hand: hand using bribes of gold
59 wicked prize: reward of wickedness
60 Buys out: corrupts
61 shuffling: practice of trickery
lies: used in its legal sense; cf. n.
63 teeth and forehead: very face
64 rests: remains
68 limed: caught with bird-lime
69 engaged: entangled