(the prince, and everyone around him.)

Hamlet monologues, printed in full

Sixty-odd speeches from the play, not only the famous four. Hamlet's own are here, and so are the King's, Polonius giving advice, Horatio, the Ghost, the Players, Ophelia and the Queen. All public domain, all printed whole, each timed at a spoken pace.

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1
Hamlet from Hamlet
William Shakespeare · play · dramatic · 2:18 min
To be, or not to be--that is the question: Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune Or to take arms against a sea of troubles And by…
2
Horatio from Hamlet
William Shakespeare · play · contemplative · 1:53 min
That can I; At least, the whisper goes so. Our last King, Whose image even but now appear’d to us, Was, as you know, by Fortinbras of Norway, Thereto prick’d on by a most emulate…
3
Horatio from Hamlet
William Shakespeare · play · dramatic · 1:50 min
A mote it is to trouble the mind’s eye. In the most high and palmy state of Rome, A little ere the mightiest Julius fell, The graves stood tenantless and the sheeted dead Did…
4
King from Hamlet
William Shakespeare · play · dramatic · 2:29 min
Though yet of Hamlet our dear brother’s death The memory be green, and that it us befitted To bear our hearts in grief, and our whole kingdom To be contracted in one brow of woe;…
5
King from Hamlet
William Shakespeare · play · defiant · 2:01 min
’Tis sweet and commendable in your nature, Hamlet, To give these mourning duties to your father; But you must know, your father lost a father, That father lost, lost his, and the…
6
Hamlet from Hamlet
William Shakespeare · play · anguished · 2:15 min
O that this too too solid flesh would melt, Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew! Or that the Everlasting had not fix’d His canon ’gainst self-slaughter. O God! O God! How weary,…
7
Laertes from Hamlet
William Shakespeare · play · philosophical · 2:16 min
Think it no more. For nature crescent does not grow alone In thews and bulk; but as this temple waxes, The inward service of the mind and soul Grows wide withal. Perhaps he loves…
8
Polonius from Hamlet
William Shakespeare · play · inspirational · 1:56 min
Yet here, Laertes? Aboard, aboard, for shame. The wind sits in the shoulder of your sail, And you are stay’d for. There, my blessing with you. (Laying his hand on Laertes’s head.)…
9
Polonius from Hamlet
William Shakespeare · play · dark · 1:26 min
Ay, springes to catch woodcocks. I do know, When the blood burns, how prodigal the soul Lends the tongue vows: these blazes, daughter, Giving more light than heat, extinct in…
10
Hamlet from Hamlet
William Shakespeare · play · contemplative · 1:34 min
Ay marry is’t; And to my mind, though I am native here, And to the manner born, it is a custom More honour’d in the breach than the observance. This heavy-headed revel east and…
11
Hamlet from Hamlet
William Shakespeare · play · anguished · 1:18 min
Angels and ministers of grace defend us! Be thou a spirit of health or goblin damn’d, Bring with thee airs from heaven or blasts from hell, Be thy intents wicked or charitable,…
12
Ghost from Hamlet
William Shakespeare · play · dramatic · 0:57 min
I am thy father’s spirit, Doom’d for a certain term to walk the night, And for the day confin’d to fast in fires, Till the foul crimes done in my days of nature Are burnt and…
13
Ghost from Hamlet
William Shakespeare · play · anguished · 3:12 min
Ay, that incestuous, that adulterate beast, With witchcraft of his wit, with traitorous gifts,— O wicked wit, and gifts, that have the power So to seduce!—won to his shameful lust…
14
Hamlet from Hamlet
William Shakespeare · play · defiant · 1:28 min
O all you host of heaven! O earth! What else? And shall I couple hell? O, fie! Hold, my heart; And you, my sinews, grow not instant old, But bear me stiffly up. Remember thee? Ay,…
15
Hamlet from Hamlet
William Shakespeare · play · contemplative · 1:07 min
And therefore as a stranger give it welcome. There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy. But come, Here, as before, never, so help…
16
Polonius from Hamlet
William Shakespeare · play · philosophical · 1:00 min
At ‘closes in the consequence’ ay, marry! He closes with you thus: ‘I know the gentleman, I saw him yesterday, or t’other day, Or then, or then, with such and such; and, as you…
17
Polonius from Hamlet
William Shakespeare · play · dramatic · 0:54 min
That hath made him mad. I am sorry that with better heed and judgement I had not quoted him. I fear’d he did but trifle, And meant to wreck thee. But beshrew my jealousy! It seems…
18
King from Hamlet
William Shakespeare · play · dramatic · 1:11 min
Welcome, dear Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Moreover that we much did long to see you, The need we have to use you did provoke Our hasty sending. Something have you heard Of…
19
Voltemand from Hamlet
William Shakespeare · play · dramatic · 1:16 min
Most fair return of greetings and desires. Upon our first, he sent out to suppress His nephew’s levies, which to him appear’d To be a preparation ’gainst the Polack; But better…
20
Polonius from Hamlet
William Shakespeare · play · comedic · 1:15 min
Madam, I swear I use no art at all. That he is mad, ’tis true: ’tis true ’tis pity; And pity ’tis ’tis true. A foolish figure, But farewell it, for I will use no art. Mad let us…
21
Polonius from Hamlet
William Shakespeare · play · romantic · 0:55 min
Good madam, stay awhile; I will be faithful. (Reads.) Doubt thou the stars are fire, Doubt that the sun doth move, Doubt truth to be a liar, But never doubt I love. O dear…
22
Polonius from Hamlet
William Shakespeare · play · contemplative · 1:29 min
I would fain prove so. But what might you think, When I had seen this hot love on the wing, As I perceiv’d it, I must tell you that, Before my daughter told me, what might you, Or…
23
Hamlet from Hamlet
William Shakespeare · play · melancholic · 1:26 min
I will tell you why; so shall my anticipation prevent your discovery, and your secrecy to the King and Queen moult no feather. I have of late, but wherefore I know not, lost all…
24
Hamlet from Hamlet
William Shakespeare · play · contemplative · 2:15 min
I heard thee speak me a speech once, but it was never acted, or if it was, not above once, for the play, I remember, pleased not the million, ’twas caviare to the general. But it…
25
Hamlet from Hamlet
William Shakespeare · play · anguished · 4:00 min
Ay, so, God b’ wi’ ye. Now I am alone. O what a rogue and peasant slave am I! Is it not monstrous that this player here, But in a fiction, in a dream of passion, Could force his…
26
King from Hamlet
William Shakespeare · play · contemplative · 0:54 min
Love? His affections do not that way tend, Nor what he spake, though it lack’d form a little, Was not like madness. There’s something in his soul O’er which his melancholy sits on…
27
Polonius from Hamlet
William Shakespeare · play · contemplative · 0:52 min
It shall do well. But yet do I believe The origin and commencement of his grief Sprung from neglected love. How now, Ophelia? You need not tell us what Lord Hamlet said, We heard…
28
Hamlet from Hamlet
William Shakespeare · play · defiant · 1:11 min
Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounced it to you, trippingly on the tongue. But if you mouth it, as many of your players do, I had as lief the town-crier spoke my lines.…
29
Hamlet from Hamlet
William Shakespeare · play · philosophical · 1:33 min
Be not too tame neither; but let your own discretion be your tutor. Suit the action to the word, the word to the action, with this special observance, that you o’erstep not the…
30
Hamlet from Hamlet
William Shakespeare · play · dramatic · 2:12 min
Nay, do not think I flatter; For what advancement may I hope from thee, That no revenue hast, but thy good spirits To feed and clothe thee? Why should the poor be flatter’d? No,…
31
Player Queen from Hamlet
William Shakespeare · play · romantic · 0:53 min
So many journeys may the sun and moon Make us again count o’er ere love be done. But, woe is me, you are so sick of late, So far from cheer and from your former state, That I…
32
Player King from Hamlet
William Shakespeare · play · philosophical · 1:58 min
I do believe you think what now you speak; But what we do determine, oft we break. Purpose is but the slave to memory, Of violent birth, but poor validity: Which now, like fruit…
33
Hamlet from Hamlet
William Shakespeare · play · dark · 1:08 min
By and by is easily said. Leave me, friends. (Exeunt all but Hamlet.) ’Tis now the very witching time of night, When churchyards yawn, and hell itself breathes out Contagion to…
34
King from Hamlet
William Shakespeare · play · anguished · 2:41 min
Thanks, dear my lord. (Exit Polonius.) O, my offence is rank, it smells to heaven; It hath the primal eldest curse upon’t,— A brother’s murder! Pray can I not, Though inclination…
35
Hamlet from Hamlet
William Shakespeare · play · anguished · 1:44 min
Now might I do it pat, now he is praying. And now I’ll do’t. And so he goes to heaven; And so am I reveng’d. That would be scann’d: A villain kills my father, and for that I, his…
36
Hamlet from Hamlet
William Shakespeare · play · dramatic · 2:22 min
Look here upon this picture, and on this, The counterfeit presentment of two brothers. See what a grace was seated on this brow, Hyperion’s curls, the front of Jove himself, An…
37
Hamlet from Hamlet
William Shakespeare · play · anguished · 1:08 min
Ecstasy! My pulse as yours doth temperately keep time, And makes as healthful music. It is not madness That I have utter’d. Bring me to the test, And I the matter will re-word;…
38
Hamlet from Hamlet
William Shakespeare · play · philosophical · 1:42 min
O throw away the worser part of it, And live the purer with the other half. Good night. But go not to mine uncle’s bed. Assume a virtue, if you have it not. That monster custom,…
39
Hamlet from Hamlet
William Shakespeare · play · defiant · 1:08 min
Not this, by no means, that I bid you do: Let the bloat King tempt you again to bed, Pinch wanton on your cheek, call you his mouse, And let him, for a pair of reechy kisses, Or…
40
Hamlet from Hamlet
William Shakespeare · play · dramatic · 1:09 min
There’s letters seal’d: and my two schoolfellows, Whom I will trust as I will adders fang’d,— They bear the mandate, they must sweep my way And marshal me to knavery. Let it work;…
41
King from Hamlet
William Shakespeare · play · dramatic · 1:14 min
Follow him at foot. Tempt him with speed aboard; Delay it not; I’ll have him hence tonight. Away, for everything is seal’d and done That else leans on th’affair. Pray you make…
42
Hamlet from Hamlet
William Shakespeare · play · philosophical · 2:36 min
I’ll be with you straight. Go a little before. (Exeunt all but Hamlet.) How all occasions do inform against me, And spur my dull revenge. What is a man If his chief good and…
43
King from Hamlet
William Shakespeare · play · anguished · 1:32 min
Follow her close; give her good watch, I pray you. (Exit Horatio.) O, this is the poison of deep grief; it springs All from her father’s death. O Gertrude, Gertrude, When sorrows…
44
King from Hamlet
William Shakespeare · play · dramatic · 1:08 min
O, for two special reasons, Which may to you, perhaps, seem much unsinew’d, But yet to me they are strong. The Queen his mother Lives almost by his looks; and for myself,— My…
45
King from Hamlet
William Shakespeare · play · philosophical · 1:10 min
Not that I think you did not love your father, But that I know love is begun by time, And that I see, in passages of proof, Time qualifies the spark and fire of it. There lives…
46
King from Hamlet
William Shakespeare · play · defiant · 0:52 min
No place, indeed, should murder sanctuarize; Revenge should have no bounds. But good Laertes, Will you do this, keep close within your chamber. Hamlet return’d shall know you are…
47
King from Hamlet
William Shakespeare · play · dark · 1:02 min
Let’s further think of this, Weigh what convenience both of time and means May fit us to our shape. If this should fail, And that our drift look through our bad performance.…
48
Hamlet from Hamlet
William Shakespeare · play · contemplative · 1:15 min
There’s another. Why may not that be the skull of a lawyer? Where be his quiddits now, his quillets, his cases, his tenures, and his tricks? Why does he suffer this rude knave now…
49
Hamlet from Hamlet
William Shakespeare · play · melancholic · 1:08 min
Let me see. (Takes the skull.) Alas, poor Yorick. I knew him, Horatio, a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy. He hath borne me on his back a thousand times; and now,…
50
Hamlet from Hamlet
William Shakespeare · play · philosophical · 1:24 min
No, faith, not a jot. But to follow him thither with modesty enough, and likelihood to lead it; as thus. Alexander died, Alexander was buried, Alexander returneth into dust; the…
51
Hamlet from Hamlet
William Shakespeare · play · anguished · 1:11 min
Give me your pardon, sir. I have done you wrong; But pardon’t as you are a gentleman. This presence knows, and you must needs have heard, How I am punish’d with sore distraction.…
52
King from Hamlet
William Shakespeare · play · dramatic · 0:53 min
Set me the stoups 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…
53
Horatio from Hamlet
William Shakespeare · play · dramatic · 0:55 min
Not from his mouth, Had it th’ability of life to thank you. He never gave commandment for their death. But since, so jump upon this bloody question, You from the Polack wars, and…
54
Horatio from Hamlet
William Shakespeare · play · dark · 1:05 min
Two nights together had these gentlemen, Marcellus and Barnardo, on their watch In the dead waste and middle of the night, Been thus encounter’d. A figure like your father, Armed…
55
Ophelia from Hamlet
William Shakespeare · play · anguished · 1:01 min
He took me by the wrist and held me hard; Then goes he to the length of all his arm; And with his other hand thus o’er his brow, He falls to such perusal of my face As he would…
56
Rosencrantz from Hamlet
William Shakespeare · play · philosophical · 0:51 min
The single and peculiar life is bound With all the strength and armour of the mind, To keep itself from ’noyance; but much more That spirit upon whose weal depend and rest The…
57
Gentleman from Hamlet
William Shakespeare · play · contemplative · 0:52 min
She speaks much of her father; says she hears There’s tricks i’ th’ world, and hems, and beats her heart, Spurns enviously at straws, speaks things in doubt, That carry but half…
58
King from Hamlet
William Shakespeare · play · contemplative · 0:55 min
A very riband in the cap of youth, Yet needful too, for youth no less becomes The light and careless livery that it wears Than settled age his sables and his weeds, Importing…
59
Queen from Hamlet
William Shakespeare · play · melancholic · 1:08 min
There is a willow grows aslant a brook, That shows his hoary leaves in the glassy stream. There with fantastic garlands did she make Of crow-flowers, nettles, daisies, and long…
60
Hamlet from Hamlet
William Shakespeare · play · joyful · 1:23 min
Why, As by lot, God wot, and then, you know, It came to pass, as most like it was. The first row of the pious chanson will show you more. For look where my abridgement comes.…
61
First Player from Hamlet
William Shakespeare · play · dark · 1:52 min
Anon he finds him, Striking too short at Greeks. His antique sword, Rebellious to his arm, lies where it falls, Repugnant to command. Unequal match’d, Pyrrhus at Priam drives, in…
62
First Player from Hamlet
William Shakespeare · play · dramatic · 0:55 min
Run barefoot up and down, threat’ning the flames With bisson rheum. A clout upon that head Where late the diadem stood, and for a robe, About her lank and all o’erteemed loins, A…
63
King from Hamlet
William Shakespeare · play · anguished · 1:25 min
O Gertrude, come away! The sun no sooner shall the mountains touch But we will ship him hence, and this vile deed We must with all our majesty and skill Both countenance and…
64
Horatio from Hamlet
William Shakespeare · play · dramatic · 1:42 min
‘Horatio, when thou shalt have overlooked this, give these fellows some means to the King. They have letters for him. Ere we were two days old at sea, a pirate of very warlike…

Length is estimated at a spoken pace of about 150 words a minute. Public-domain pieces are printed in full on their own page; copyrighted ones list the character and the source.

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