In this captivating episode, we delve into a unique adaptation of William Shakespeare's timeless play, "Hamlet." Our story follows the young prince Hamlet, who is thrust into a whirlwind of emotions and intrigue upon learning of his father's death and his mother's hasty remarriage to his uncle, Claudius. As Hamlet grapples with the ghostly revelation of his father's murder, he is torn between action and inaction, sanity and madness, in his quest for truth and vengeance. The episode explores the complex themes of betrayal, morality, and the struggle for justice, all set against the backdrop of a royal court filled with spies and deceit.
Join us as we unravel the layers of this classic tragedy, brought to life by a talented cast including Tony Roberts and Ian Martin. This adaptation, crafted especially for the Mystery Theater, captures the essence of Shakespeare's work while adding a fresh perspective to the enduring tale of Hamlet. As the story unfolds, listeners are invited to ponder the eternal questions of human nature and the consequences of our choices. Don't miss this thrilling journey into the heart of one of literature's greatest mysteries.
(00:16) Introduction and Overview of Hamlet
(01:18) Hamlet's Return to Elsinore
(06:15) The Ghost's Revelation
(14:19) Claudius' Conspiracy
(18:01) Hamlet's Soliloquy and Ophelia's Encounter
(25:19) The Play Within a Play
(30:01) Confrontation with Gertrude
(32:07) Ophelia's Madness and Laertes' Return
(35:03) The Duel and Tragic End
(38:23) Conclusion and Reflection on Hamlet
Listen to our radio station Old Time Radio https://link.radioking.com/otradio
Listen to other Shows at My Classic Radio https://www.myclassicradio.net/
Entertainment Radio | Broadcasting Classic Radio Shows | Patreon
Remember that times have changed, and some shows might not reflect the standards of today’s politically correct society. The shows do not necessarily reflect the views, standards, or beliefs of Entertainment Radio
[00:00:16]
Unknown:
Come in. Welcome. I'm EG Marshall. I suppose one must consider Hamlet William Shakespeare's greatest play. Certainly, it is the most famous. Was Hamlet, a young man, overwhelmed with a problem too large for him to solve? Did the tragedy of his father's death drive him mad? Or was he a politician who played for time and by accident lost not only the game, but his life? Why don't you judge for yourself? Our mystery grandma, long live the king is dead, was freely adapted from the immortal Shakespeare play Hamlet, especially for the mystery theater by Ian Martin and stars Tony Roberts.
It is sponsored in part by True Value Hardware stores and Buick Motor Division. I'll be back shortly with act one. Hamlet, a graduate student at a distant university, was not even aware of the death of his father he loved and revered till long after the fact. By the time the news reached him and he could make plans to return to the Castle Of Elsinore, it was to discover that his beloved mother had remarried, but now his father's brother, Claudius, was king and shared his mother's bed. Wrong? Right? Morality apart, this was a situation he had to face on his return home, listening to his new father and new sovereign speak for the first time in public. The memory of our dear brother Hamlet's death is more than green.
As all of you, I I bear my heart in grief. Yet in this warlike state, our sometimes sister, weighing funeral and rejoicing, has in wisdom for all our better goods, taken me as husband, I in return her as wife. We hope you will forgive and realize that in our sorrow, still in the midst of death, we are in life. And now the business of the state has lagged too long. What petitions must we hear? Dread my lord. Who speaks? Laertes. Son of Polonius, your counselor. You have our immediate ear in all things. Things. I beg your favor to return to France, from where I came most willingly to attend your coronation. Have you your father's leave? Oh, he does me, Lord. Run from me by such labors and petitions. I pay you, let the young Japonates go. By all means, Grant it.
But since I stand as foster father in this matter, let me in the same way treat you as my own. For what of you, my nephew Hamlet, and my son, what shall I offer you in kind? A little less than kin, a little less than kind. Forgive me. I lost what you said. Yeah. As well. As well.
[00:03:20] Unknown:
Dear Hamlet, I beg you as my son. Try to cast off the Madame Calais in the black of morning. Forget your father gone to dust. We must accept the fact of dying. It is a common ailment. In any case,
[00:03:35] Unknown:
in this case, aye madam, it is common. Yes. It is. We have all felt it.
[00:03:42] Unknown:
Why is it particularly so with you or so it seems?
[00:03:46] Unknown:
Seems, mother. Oh, no. It does not seem, but is. It isn't only my inky cloak or customary suits of solemn black or sighs or tears or frowns and all other common displays of grief that proclaim my sadness. I have that within which passeth show. For the rest are but the trappings and the suits of woe. It is noble and commendable in your nature, Hamlet, to mourn your father. But we must mourn in reason. If I may serve in some sense, think of me as father. You. A poor substitute, but at least your father's brother. I would not ask you except Except?
Except what, uncle? For many reasons I would urge you not to return to school in Wittenberg, but to stay here for your mother's sake and mine. Dear Hamlet,
[00:04:40] Unknown:
let me add my prayer to that.
[00:04:44] Unknown:
I shall, in all my best, obey you, madam. Why, Why, there's a fair reply and loving too. I promise you that you are as myself in Denmark. Do you agree, Gertrude? Of course. Yes. I cannot tell you, son, how happy your agreement with your mother's wish and mine has made us. Now, at last, perhaps, Denmark can smile again. And we may bring some laughter back to court. Come, my queen. That it should come to this. But two months dead? No, not even that long. So excellent a king and man compared to my uncle, a god to a gargoyle. I remember how loving my father was to my mother and how she hung on his every word and look with a hunger of love that never could be satisfied.
And yet within a month oh, frailty, thy name is woman. One little month before the tears were dried, she married my father's brother and with indecent speed crawled with him between incestuous sheets. Oh, this too too solid flesh would melt and vanish, nor that God did not forbid self slaughter. How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable all reason in life seems to be. For what has happened cannot come to good. But I must let my heart quake while I bite my tongue. You're larger? What? Oh, Horatio, what brings you here from Wittenberg? Oh, tired of Brooks. Decided to play truant? Oh, not you, my friend. Come, speak out. What brings you here to Elsinore? Well, I I came to see your father's funeral.
Don't mock me, my friend. I think it was to see my mother's wedding. Indeed, my prince. It followed very fast. Oh, it's sheer thrift, Horatio. The funeral meets serve to feed the wedding guests. A turn of the stomach. My lord Hamlet, I I think I saw your father last night. My father? My father. The king. My father. Where? Let me explain. I have two friends, members of the palace guard, standing their watch some nights after your father had been at last laid to rest. They were, both of them, shaken and terrified by the appearance of the figure on the battlements, armed head to foot, who did not speak, but seemed in some dumb fashion to implore their help. In desperation, knowing not what else to do, they they sent word to me, and I came.
And did you see this apparition? Yes, Hamlet. I did. I kept the watch with him the third night, and he did appear. And how did he look? Oh, a countenance more in sorrow than in anger. Did he stay long? Why one might count a hundred. Oh, God in heaven. What brings him from from his grave? I will watch with you tonight. Maybe he will walk again.
[00:07:52] Unknown:
Well, Sister Ophelia, I am all packed and ready to depart. I shall miss you, Beatrice.
[00:07:57] Unknown:
It's been good to have you home from Paris. From all the great occasions that have happened, I could scarcely have stayed away. I wish they had not happened. I wish I were going with you except Hamlet? Yes.
[00:08:09] Unknown:
Because he loves you. We'll not exchange vows which binders. My little sister, do not put too much faith in princes. I will not let you put a slur on Hamlet's name. My dear sweet one, I have no doubt that Hamlet, even in his grief, may love you now. But Hamlet's will no longer is his own. His royal rank makes him a prisoner of the state. You may give yourself to him willingly, but no matter how honest he is, he cannot give himself away as you can. Ophelia. Yes, Dorothy. I speak only to keep you from being hurt.
[00:08:41] Unknown:
And I have stayed too long for here my father come. Oh, oh, still here. My here's aboard. Aboard. Your ship is ready to sail. Oh, and my boy. My my blessing with you. I thank you, just these few precepts for your guidance. Rain in your tongue, be familiar, but never vulgar. If you have friends and they are tried and true, grapple them to you with hooks of steel, but waste not too much time on new companions until they prove they're worth. It's all fair. Out of sight. But if you get in one, make sure you make the opponent through it. Listen to everyone talk to few. Let others sneer, but reserve your own judgment Yes, father. The ship is waiting. Above all, to your own self be true. And it must follow the night today. You cannot then be false to any man. I will obey. Yes, father. You said the ship was settled. You also. The it was oh, yes. The ship, of course, my boy. Of course. Well then, and my blessing. I humbly take my leave. Go now. Go.
[00:09:39] Unknown:
Goodbye, Ophelia. Remember what I said. Locked in my memory, and only you have the key. Goodbye, dear brother. God speak to your boy.
[00:09:50] Unknown:
Now where were we? I think you were about to make a speech. No. No. No. No. No. No speech to the point. What is it between you and young lord Emmett? He has of late offered me much affection.
[00:10:02] Unknown:
Affection? Oh, do you believe his offers? I do not know father of what I should think. You're a baby. Do you think a young man is to be trusted? He has offered me his love and only honorable fashion.
[00:10:13] Unknown:
Fringes to catch woodcock that sat for a pretty bird. When the blood burns, it lends the tongue vows. Now do not trust his vows. I order you from this time forth, Ophelia, to avoid meeting him or seeing him alone. The air bites at the bone I shall. It's very cold. Aye. Hold a reason on the wind. What's the hour? It just stopped twelve. I didn't hear it. This is the time when the ghost will walk. But by the heart, the specter comes. Angels and ministers of of grace defend us. Are you my father? King? Loyal Dane? Oh, answer me. He's begging you to go with it.
I'll follow. No. You cannot go. Unhand me. Find or not. I'll make a ghost of you. Lead on, spirit. I'll follow you. Now go no further. Speak. I am your father's spirit. If ever you love me, revenge my murder. Murder? Oh, my prophetic soul. My uncle. My custom, you remember, was to rest by afternoon in the garden shade. While sleeping there, my loving brother stole upon me, poured the lethal heaven on in my ear. In one convulsive gas, the poison strangled the breath of life, and stilled my heart. So I lost and I was cut off full of steam and sent to my account untriven, unanointed, earth unhallowed.
Now, say you well, Now, fare you well. My time in the glowworm's pale nightlife is fading fast. Adieu, my son. Adieu. Remember me. Remember thee. Yes. From the tables of my memory, I'll wipe away all trivial fond records. And your commandment shall live alone in the book of my mind. A mother damned, sanctuaterous, murderous Corlius. Let me write it in my record that one may smile and smile and smile again and be a villain. What Hammitt is all well? No. Far from well. A villain dwells in Denmark. You need no specter from the grave to tell me that. Aye. About this vision here, it is an honest ghost. Give me your word that you will keep secret what you have seen or overheard. You won't trust me. No. Swear for my sword. Well, I have given my word that I swear.
God, what was that? There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy. Swear. Swear. And so I will. And rest, rest, perturbed spirit. For time is out of joint. Oh, cursed spite, whatever I was born to set it right. So Hamlet now must trace his tragic quandary. Will he believe a ghost, a figure perhaps conjured out of his grief stricken mind and his dislike of his uncle, or can he accept the fact of a murder committed by someone in so high a place that no ordinary justice can bring him to trial. Is he mad or sane?
For if he is sane, he seems to be the only one in this world. I shall return shortly with that too. Hamlet is not the only one assailed by doubts. Claudius' conscience is disturbing him, and he is afraid of Hamlet as a threat to his uneasy throne. He is more and more frantic to find out what Hamlet's thoughts are. And to this end, he brings to court two friends of Hamlet's from younger days, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, and using their venal nature and ambition for advancement makes them spy. Nor is the the above trying to use his doddering old Chamberlain, Polonius, and through him, his daughter, Ophelia, as informants.
What is this of my nephew, Hamlet, that you wish to speak Polonius? Polonius? My good willy, that only yesterday he came upon her in the closet where she sat sewing. And with a face as white as his shirt, he seized her by the wrist, stared at her face as if he would memorize every feature. And then with the look of a man who's gazed on hell, back slowly out of the room, his eyes never leaving her face, most most strange behavior. Madam, your son is mad. Oh, yes. It's true. Too written by your leave because, you you see, I have a daughter. As well we know. A beautiful daughter who has given me a This is a letter from Hamlet. To my daughters will be revealed.
Doubt thou the stars afire. Doubt that the sun doth move. Doubt truth to be be a liar, but never a doubt I love. Oh, dear Ophelia, I have no heart to reckon my unrelenting sorrow, but that I still love you best. Believe me, Hamlet. Now now this letter from your obedience, my daughter showed me. And how does she receive his love? Oh, Lord Hamlet is a prince above her station. Thus, she must lock herself away from him, refuse his company, receive no tokens. And do you think this has driven him mad? How can we try this further? My lords, may I suggest we could arrange a meeting between my daughter and him while you and I, or old madam, might hide behind the tapestry that breaks the walls? I God will try it. My poor head, son, approach you. Then we can make your first assessment. Now quickly, your Majesties. Hide yourselves away away and let me intercept a minute. Come, come quickly. Get through.
Well, well, well, got it, Mercy. Look who is here. Oh, you know his eyes. Oh, very well, very well. You sell fish? Not I. Oh, it's a pity. I wish you were so honorable, a man. Have you a daughter? I have. Oh, keep her out of the sun. Light is the father of conception, but not the way you'd like your daughter to conceive. Guard her. Still harping on Ophelia? And you you see the man of which, my lords, what are you reading? Words. Words. Words. But what is the matter? Between whom? I I I mean, what is the subject of what you read? Oh, slanderous, sir. For here, this, satirist says that old men have wrinkled faces, a lack of wit, and woefully weak legs, which is not fair, you see, since you could be as old as I am if, like a crab, you could go backward.
No. This is madness. There is method in it. Will you walk with me into the air, my lord? Into my grave? Yes. Indeed. That is Out of the air. But I my lord, may I most humbly take my leave of you? You cannot, take from me anything I will more willingly part with except my life. Except my life. Here you will, Lord Hamlet. To be or not to be, that is the question. Whether it is better in the mind to suffer or end the sea of problems by the sleep of death. To die, to sleep, aye, there's the floor. For in that sleep when we have shuffled off this mortal shell, the dreams that threaten to haunt our peace forever must give us more. First conscience makes cowards of us all and makes us bear the ills we have, afraid of others we cannot know nor dare to risk.
Oh, God. Here comes Ophelia. I cannot drag her down with me. Ah, sweet one, in your prayers remember me and all my sins.
[00:18:55] Unknown:
Oh, Parnett. How do you feel today?
[00:18:58] Unknown:
I hope I thank you. Well, well, well.
[00:19:01] Unknown:
I have remembrance of yours. I should return. Will you take them now?
[00:19:08] Unknown:
I loved you once. Indeed.
[00:19:12] Unknown:
You made me believe so.
[00:19:14] Unknown:
You should not have believed me. I would have taken you unwed but that desire, I loved
[00:19:22] Unknown:
you not. I was the more deceived.
[00:19:24] Unknown:
I felt Get there to a nunnery. Would you want me to make you a breeder of sinners?
[00:19:30] Unknown:
I beg you sweet man. I am sick of womankind.
[00:19:34] Unknown:
God give you one face and you make yourselves another. I will stand no more of it. You've driven me mad. I would proclaim as prince, there be no more marriages. All those that are married already may live save one, save only one. You're still here, Ophelia? Then I I shall take my leave, but hear me to a nunnery. Go. Oh, God. Please help you. Hush, child. And forgive him. He's not in his senses. Just mad, raising mad. I want her. Your majesty
[00:20:08] Unknown:
and father, to see such a noble mind overthrown. It it breaks my heart to see the lady. Take her away. Come, child. We shall weave our tears together.
[00:20:23] Unknown:
Will you see my king? Quite mad. Quite mad. What I heard him speak was not like madness. I think his purpose different although I'm not sure what it is. I still think his grief is from neglected love. Can we not try once more? Try what? Well, the players are here, and all will be bustled for tomorrow's entertainment. But by the day following, if you hold it fit, let Hamlet meet with the queen, queen, his mother, and let her chide him and entreat him to tell her what casts him down. I shall be hidden behind the curtain unknown to them and will report their conference. Yes. Yes. It shall be so.
Madness and anyone great enough to shake the throne must never unwatched go. Thelonious, I hear the players are to be here. What? Right. So they are. Will you come to the play? No. More than that, I would like to talk to them. They are old friends and might lift my spirits. Then the thief is not far away. For for here they come. Yes. You are welcome, masters. You are welcome all. I am glad to see you. Ah, you, sir. You are disguised in the face since I saw you last. Did you come to beard me in Denmark? This beard is better covering than the wrinkled age has put on my face. With your wealth, how good to see you. Let's not wait for tonight but give me a foretaste now. Let me have, let's see, my favorite speech.
What one is that my lord? It begins as I remember the the rugged purist. He whose sable arms black as his purpose did the, did the knight resemble? Yes. That's it. That's it. Let's have it all. Did the knight resemble when he lay couched in the ominous horse, hath now his black and dreadful complexion. Unless things mortal move them not at all, would have made Milch the burning eyes of heaven and passion of the gods for a Hecuba. Bravo. Bravo. Bravo. But you must make all ready for tonight. On to your quarter. Stop a moment, friends.
Yes, friends. Can you play The Murder of Gonzago tomorrow night? But of course. And you could, for me, insert a speech of some dozen or 16 lines which I should set down for you. Give me only time to commit them safe to memory. You shall have it. I promise. Now,
[00:23:00] Unknown:
leave me and make your preparations. With all dispatch, good faith, have it.
[00:23:07] Unknown:
No. I am but a rogue and peasant slave. Is it not monstrous that this player here, all in a fiction, in a dream of passion, can create the emotion to distract himself to tears, and all for nothing. For what? For Hecuba. What Hecuba to him or he to Hecuba that he should weep for her? What would he do if he had the motive and the cue for passion that I have? Why he would drown the stage in tears, make the guilty mad and terrify those still unstained by guilt. Yet I, the son of a dear father murdered, prompted to my revenge by heaven and hell, unable to face my cause, can only unpack my heart with words.
Bloody bawdy villain, Remorseless treacherous lecherous kindless villain. Oh, vengeance. I have heard that some guilty people while sitting at a play, if the scene reflects their guilt, have like a hawk. And if he only blanches, then at last I'll know the truth. The play's the thing, wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king. At last, it seems young Hamlet has, in the words of Lady Macbeth, screwed his courage to the sticking point. But if this last proof of the murder of his father is presented to him, he still must face a terrible problem, how to exact his revenge.
I shall return shortly with act three. It is the evening of the play. About the dais where the play will be performed are seated Ophelia, Polonius, Horatio, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, and all the nobles of the court and their attendants. An expectant buzz fills the hall. And beside the empty seats saved for Hamlet, his friend Horatio beside the empty seats saved for Hamlet, his friend Horatio fits in some excitement, since as a soldier, a play is a new experience for him. Now as they wait, Hamlet turns to the player who will enact the king. Speak the king.
Speak the speech. I pray you're trippingly on the tongue. Don't mouth it as some of our players do or thaw the air with your hands. You you have the words I wrote. I have indeed your honor. Good. Be not too tame though. Let your discretion judge that. Suit the action to the word, the word to the action. The whole purpose of the actor is to hold the mirror up to nature. That should be the first and last end for it over the oh, there comes a scene in the cold. While I take my seat, make ready. So, maybe you must be. This is the pantomime. The prologue which makes the statement of the play, Horatio.
I am not well versed in understanding this art. What, is the play called? The Mousetrap. What? Why, my king, it is an apt title. This is the image of a play done in Vienna. Gonzago is the duke, his wife, Batista, and sure it's a knavish piece of work. Come. Begin. The croaking raven doth bellow for revenge. The croaking raven doth bellow for revenge. Thoughts black, hands axed, gloves thick and time green. Confederate season, else no creature seen. Thou mixture rank You see, my king, or we'll see, how he poisons him in the garden. Then later wins the love of Gonzago's wife. Unwholesome life you serve immediately.
[00:27:29] Unknown:
So poor I, the deadly poison, idiot.
[00:27:34] Unknown:
Give all the plays. Give me some light. Away. This play was not the bottom. What might have been? Oh, yes. Then go and tell my mother I will come to her by and by and lead me all, even you, Horatio. It is now the very witching time of night when churchyards yawn and hell itself breathes out contagion to this world. Now could I drink hot blood? I will go to my mother and will be cruel but not unnatural. I will speak daggers to her, but use none. As for Claudius, his days are numbered. No, madam. Lord Hamlet is on the way. I will conceal myself behind the curtain. Is that right? It is what the king commands. Now, mark you, draw him out. Be round with him. Mother. Mother.
[00:28:46] Unknown:
Don't be afraid. But I hear him coming. Hide yourself.
[00:28:50] Unknown:
Well, mother, why have you called me here?
[00:28:53] Unknown:
Hamlet, you have your mother much offended.
[00:28:57] Unknown:
Mother, you have my father much offended.
[00:29:00] Unknown:
Have you forgotten who I am, my son?
[00:29:03] Unknown:
You are the queen. Queen. Your husband's brother's wife. And would it were not so, you are my mother.
[00:29:12] Unknown:
If that is all you have to say to me,
[00:29:15] Unknown:
I will face you with others who can better defend me. Not till I set you up a glass wherein you may see the inmost part of you. Put it in your mind.
[00:29:23] Unknown:
You will not murder me. How?
[00:29:26] Unknown:
How? Purple in God's name. What? A rat in the curtained walls?
[00:29:43] Unknown:
What are you, Doug?
[00:29:45] Unknown:
I don't know.
[00:29:46] Unknown:
Is it the King? A senseless bloody deed you're on himself.
[00:29:50] Unknown:
A bloody deed? Almost as bad to good mother as kill a king and marry with his brother. Kill a king. Aye, madam. Twas my word. Oh. Craft Polonius. You wretched, rash, intruding fool. I took you for another. Farewell. Stop wringing your hands, mother, and let me wring your heart. What have I done if you treat me so? Such an act that blurs the grace of all your life. What act? What do you blame me for? Look here upon this miniature around my neck and upon the one you wear. My father, your husband, the counterfeit of two brothers. How could you step from this to this?
How can you call it love? For at your age, wisdom should temper the body's urge. You lost a god and found a man so misshapen in his soul that even the most desperate old maid would turn from him in loathing. Go ahead.
[00:30:55] Unknown:
Beat no more.
[00:30:56] Unknown:
You break my heart in two. Then throw away the worse apart and live the purer. And when you are desirous to be blessed, I will blessing beg of you, but go not to my uncle's dead. As for this meddling fool, I'm sorry. I'll dispose of his remains. Hamlet, where is Polonius? In the dust and his soul in heaven. Send your messengers there to seek him. And if they don't find him there, why, seek him in the other place yourself. Hamlet, you must be mad. For your own safety then, we send you straight to England. The bark is ready and your schoolmates Rosencrantz and Guildenstern will see you safe. To England? Aye. Where else? Why, that remains to be seen. Will you wish us all safe returns? Of course we do. You, mother, perhaps.
But tell the king he should not worry. I doubt that we shall all return. Ophelia mad? She came to you thus. It rang my heart. Poor, pretty, lost little soul. Oh, the poison of grief springs from her father's death. Jeshurun, when sorrows come, they don't come in single file but marching wide like I'll not be juggled to hell with allegiance. I will know the truth. I'll be revenged more thoroughly for my father. How did you gain the news so soon? My sister sent me word. Where does she? I would not hate to see her. Let all be revealed. Here she comes now.
Where as you can see?
[00:33:00] Unknown:
That? Is my sister Ophelia? Poor suffering mate.
[00:33:06] Unknown:
She walks as a blind. Her
[00:33:09] Unknown:
head or toe. Her eyes are as vacant as the grave. Sister? You must sing down a down. Oh,
[00:33:18] Unknown:
see here.
[00:33:20] Unknown:
Don't you know me? I know that, ma'am. That is for remembrance. Hey, love. Remember. Oh, Ponzi. That is what's up. Horace. She is mad. There's funnel for you and columbines and rue. I would give you violet but they all withered when my father died And I was abandoned by my mouth. Do you see this? Oh god.
[00:33:48] Unknown:
Laertes, I must talk with you alone. Come. Go with me. Now Hamlet has returned. Would you, Laertes, undertake to show you are your father's son in more than words? I cut his throat in the church. Oh, then should have no bounds. But why offer him sanctuary? Besides, for the common view, a passage of arms would would seem more apt unless I lost. Suppose your rapier point bore an unction, but upon a scratch insured instant death. Since my father had no defense, reason to offer him more. Ah, but trust me to shuffle the foils in such a way as they are presented that the poison blade will be safe in your hand. And yet, it seems a crime on claim Excuse me. Yes me. Yes, my sweet queen. What what ails you?
[00:34:47] Unknown:
One roar upon another's ear must tread. Oh, fear? Yes? What of my sister? Oh, give me the air to bring the news. But she is drowned.
[00:35:03] Unknown:
Oh. Oh, god. Oh, no, Horacio. Not Ophelia. To return to Denmark still alive and find her dead. When is the funeral? Today it might all happen. Then let us get there with all speed.
[00:35:20] Unknown:
No. Hold your ceiling of the grave till I have caught her once more in my arms.
[00:35:26] Unknown:
Who's Greeks can bear such emphasis? Her brother. And you, Hamlet, the Dane. The devil take your soul. Oh. The devil take your soul. He is mad.
[00:35:37] Unknown:
Right. Who is Matt? I loved Ophelia.
[00:35:39] Unknown:
Forty thousand brothers could not make up the love I had for her, but I will fight you, Laertes, if so you might. My god, you will.
[00:35:46] Unknown:
I hope that much I can hold in trust.
[00:35:52] Unknown:
Come, Hamlet. Come, Hamlet. Laertes, give me your hand. My hand to you, sir, and against no man. My hand to you, and against this man. I wish I could persuade you how little wrong I've done. I wish I could be persuaded,
[00:36:06] Unknown:
but that's too late.
[00:36:08] Unknown:
Come. Let us cross swords. Why does his foolish friends I know, Horatio, but there's no harm. Let him expel his agony. I can handle his sword. How about you then? A terrible hit. Well, again. Stay. Stay. Let us drink. Hamlet, take this cup. To your help. I'll play the battle faster. Then I'll venture you, my son. Oh, no question. No. What is it, mother?
[00:36:35] Unknown:
Die, my turn. Die. Your storied swordplay shall not save you.
[00:36:39] Unknown:
A thrust in my back. Why, damn you. Double damn. I'll I'll risk that vicious sword from you and return treachery for treachery. Fair enough. It's but a passing wound. What was the poison right here you took from my hand? Poisoned.
[00:36:56] Unknown:
Give me apple. Oh, what was in that
[00:37:01] Unknown:
draft I took? The draft I put by, but I can see it all now. She put The Modius. She put the poison on my sword and the poison in the drink. So die, villain. Die. Oh, Hamlet. No. And if that's not enough, give me the cup. Open your mouth, tyrant. Swallow your own death potion. Ham it, my prince. Is it well with you? Now. No. Ill Horatio.
[00:37:33] Unknown:
How is it with the other? The queen is dead.
[00:37:36] Unknown:
The earth is fast upon. The king is writhing in his last accident. So be it. Now, at last, I die. Horatio, in this harsh world draw your breath in pain to tear my sky. The rest is silence. Now cracks the noble heart. Good night sweet prince, and the sights of angels. Sing you to your rest. So died Hamlet, prince of Denmark. The play Hamlet was staged in the first year of the seventeenth century, two hundred and seventy five years ago. It was a play of deep psychological insight, full of drama to excite an audience, and it has lasted all these years. The people and the problems are not so different from what we have today.
Only the genius of one man has guaranteed that the play will last as long as language remains our means of communication and radio is one means of bringing that to you. Our cast included Tony Roberts, Ian Martin, Arnold Moss, E. V. Juster, and Bob Caliban. The entire production was under the direction of Hyman Brown. Radio Mystery Theater was sponsored in part by Allied Van Lines. This is EG Marshall inviting you to return to our mystery theater for another adventure in the macabre. Until next time. Pleasant dream.
[00:39:41] Unknown:
Mystery Theater program is furnished by CBS Radio and was brought to you in part by ShopRite Supermarkets. Stay tuned now for the news at eight with John Scott in W 0 R, New York.
[00:39:51] Unknown:
The nation may have a record wheat and corn crop this year. Senator Mansfield tells vice president of Rockefeller to clear the air in his dispute with senator Jackson, and secretary of state Kissinger takes off for Africa. It's 61 degrees in clear Mid Manhattan. The man's is clear and cool tonight with a low of 45 to 50. Sunny tomorrow with a high in the upper sixties. This is
Come in. Welcome. I'm EG Marshall. I suppose one must consider Hamlet William Shakespeare's greatest play. Certainly, it is the most famous. Was Hamlet, a young man, overwhelmed with a problem too large for him to solve? Did the tragedy of his father's death drive him mad? Or was he a politician who played for time and by accident lost not only the game, but his life? Why don't you judge for yourself? Our mystery grandma, long live the king is dead, was freely adapted from the immortal Shakespeare play Hamlet, especially for the mystery theater by Ian Martin and stars Tony Roberts.
It is sponsored in part by True Value Hardware stores and Buick Motor Division. I'll be back shortly with act one. Hamlet, a graduate student at a distant university, was not even aware of the death of his father he loved and revered till long after the fact. By the time the news reached him and he could make plans to return to the Castle Of Elsinore, it was to discover that his beloved mother had remarried, but now his father's brother, Claudius, was king and shared his mother's bed. Wrong? Right? Morality apart, this was a situation he had to face on his return home, listening to his new father and new sovereign speak for the first time in public. The memory of our dear brother Hamlet's death is more than green.
As all of you, I I bear my heart in grief. Yet in this warlike state, our sometimes sister, weighing funeral and rejoicing, has in wisdom for all our better goods, taken me as husband, I in return her as wife. We hope you will forgive and realize that in our sorrow, still in the midst of death, we are in life. And now the business of the state has lagged too long. What petitions must we hear? Dread my lord. Who speaks? Laertes. Son of Polonius, your counselor. You have our immediate ear in all things. Things. I beg your favor to return to France, from where I came most willingly to attend your coronation. Have you your father's leave? Oh, he does me, Lord. Run from me by such labors and petitions. I pay you, let the young Japonates go. By all means, Grant it.
But since I stand as foster father in this matter, let me in the same way treat you as my own. For what of you, my nephew Hamlet, and my son, what shall I offer you in kind? A little less than kin, a little less than kind. Forgive me. I lost what you said. Yeah. As well. As well.
[00:03:20] Unknown:
Dear Hamlet, I beg you as my son. Try to cast off the Madame Calais in the black of morning. Forget your father gone to dust. We must accept the fact of dying. It is a common ailment. In any case,
[00:03:35] Unknown:
in this case, aye madam, it is common. Yes. It is. We have all felt it.
[00:03:42] Unknown:
Why is it particularly so with you or so it seems?
[00:03:46] Unknown:
Seems, mother. Oh, no. It does not seem, but is. It isn't only my inky cloak or customary suits of solemn black or sighs or tears or frowns and all other common displays of grief that proclaim my sadness. I have that within which passeth show. For the rest are but the trappings and the suits of woe. It is noble and commendable in your nature, Hamlet, to mourn your father. But we must mourn in reason. If I may serve in some sense, think of me as father. You. A poor substitute, but at least your father's brother. I would not ask you except Except?
Except what, uncle? For many reasons I would urge you not to return to school in Wittenberg, but to stay here for your mother's sake and mine. Dear Hamlet,
[00:04:40] Unknown:
let me add my prayer to that.
[00:04:44] Unknown:
I shall, in all my best, obey you, madam. Why, Why, there's a fair reply and loving too. I promise you that you are as myself in Denmark. Do you agree, Gertrude? Of course. Yes. I cannot tell you, son, how happy your agreement with your mother's wish and mine has made us. Now, at last, perhaps, Denmark can smile again. And we may bring some laughter back to court. Come, my queen. That it should come to this. But two months dead? No, not even that long. So excellent a king and man compared to my uncle, a god to a gargoyle. I remember how loving my father was to my mother and how she hung on his every word and look with a hunger of love that never could be satisfied.
And yet within a month oh, frailty, thy name is woman. One little month before the tears were dried, she married my father's brother and with indecent speed crawled with him between incestuous sheets. Oh, this too too solid flesh would melt and vanish, nor that God did not forbid self slaughter. How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable all reason in life seems to be. For what has happened cannot come to good. But I must let my heart quake while I bite my tongue. You're larger? What? Oh, Horatio, what brings you here from Wittenberg? Oh, tired of Brooks. Decided to play truant? Oh, not you, my friend. Come, speak out. What brings you here to Elsinore? Well, I I came to see your father's funeral.
Don't mock me, my friend. I think it was to see my mother's wedding. Indeed, my prince. It followed very fast. Oh, it's sheer thrift, Horatio. The funeral meets serve to feed the wedding guests. A turn of the stomach. My lord Hamlet, I I think I saw your father last night. My father? My father. The king. My father. Where? Let me explain. I have two friends, members of the palace guard, standing their watch some nights after your father had been at last laid to rest. They were, both of them, shaken and terrified by the appearance of the figure on the battlements, armed head to foot, who did not speak, but seemed in some dumb fashion to implore their help. In desperation, knowing not what else to do, they they sent word to me, and I came.
And did you see this apparition? Yes, Hamlet. I did. I kept the watch with him the third night, and he did appear. And how did he look? Oh, a countenance more in sorrow than in anger. Did he stay long? Why one might count a hundred. Oh, God in heaven. What brings him from from his grave? I will watch with you tonight. Maybe he will walk again.
[00:07:52] Unknown:
Well, Sister Ophelia, I am all packed and ready to depart. I shall miss you, Beatrice.
[00:07:57] Unknown:
It's been good to have you home from Paris. From all the great occasions that have happened, I could scarcely have stayed away. I wish they had not happened. I wish I were going with you except Hamlet? Yes.
[00:08:09] Unknown:
Because he loves you. We'll not exchange vows which binders. My little sister, do not put too much faith in princes. I will not let you put a slur on Hamlet's name. My dear sweet one, I have no doubt that Hamlet, even in his grief, may love you now. But Hamlet's will no longer is his own. His royal rank makes him a prisoner of the state. You may give yourself to him willingly, but no matter how honest he is, he cannot give himself away as you can. Ophelia. Yes, Dorothy. I speak only to keep you from being hurt.
[00:08:41] Unknown:
And I have stayed too long for here my father come. Oh, oh, still here. My here's aboard. Aboard. Your ship is ready to sail. Oh, and my boy. My my blessing with you. I thank you, just these few precepts for your guidance. Rain in your tongue, be familiar, but never vulgar. If you have friends and they are tried and true, grapple them to you with hooks of steel, but waste not too much time on new companions until they prove they're worth. It's all fair. Out of sight. But if you get in one, make sure you make the opponent through it. Listen to everyone talk to few. Let others sneer, but reserve your own judgment Yes, father. The ship is waiting. Above all, to your own self be true. And it must follow the night today. You cannot then be false to any man. I will obey. Yes, father. You said the ship was settled. You also. The it was oh, yes. The ship, of course, my boy. Of course. Well then, and my blessing. I humbly take my leave. Go now. Go.
[00:09:39] Unknown:
Goodbye, Ophelia. Remember what I said. Locked in my memory, and only you have the key. Goodbye, dear brother. God speak to your boy.
[00:09:50] Unknown:
Now where were we? I think you were about to make a speech. No. No. No. No. No. No speech to the point. What is it between you and young lord Emmett? He has of late offered me much affection.
[00:10:02] Unknown:
Affection? Oh, do you believe his offers? I do not know father of what I should think. You're a baby. Do you think a young man is to be trusted? He has offered me his love and only honorable fashion.
[00:10:13] Unknown:
Fringes to catch woodcock that sat for a pretty bird. When the blood burns, it lends the tongue vows. Now do not trust his vows. I order you from this time forth, Ophelia, to avoid meeting him or seeing him alone. The air bites at the bone I shall. It's very cold. Aye. Hold a reason on the wind. What's the hour? It just stopped twelve. I didn't hear it. This is the time when the ghost will walk. But by the heart, the specter comes. Angels and ministers of of grace defend us. Are you my father? King? Loyal Dane? Oh, answer me. He's begging you to go with it.
I'll follow. No. You cannot go. Unhand me. Find or not. I'll make a ghost of you. Lead on, spirit. I'll follow you. Now go no further. Speak. I am your father's spirit. If ever you love me, revenge my murder. Murder? Oh, my prophetic soul. My uncle. My custom, you remember, was to rest by afternoon in the garden shade. While sleeping there, my loving brother stole upon me, poured the lethal heaven on in my ear. In one convulsive gas, the poison strangled the breath of life, and stilled my heart. So I lost and I was cut off full of steam and sent to my account untriven, unanointed, earth unhallowed.
Now, say you well, Now, fare you well. My time in the glowworm's pale nightlife is fading fast. Adieu, my son. Adieu. Remember me. Remember thee. Yes. From the tables of my memory, I'll wipe away all trivial fond records. And your commandment shall live alone in the book of my mind. A mother damned, sanctuaterous, murderous Corlius. Let me write it in my record that one may smile and smile and smile again and be a villain. What Hammitt is all well? No. Far from well. A villain dwells in Denmark. You need no specter from the grave to tell me that. Aye. About this vision here, it is an honest ghost. Give me your word that you will keep secret what you have seen or overheard. You won't trust me. No. Swear for my sword. Well, I have given my word that I swear.
God, what was that? There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy. Swear. Swear. And so I will. And rest, rest, perturbed spirit. For time is out of joint. Oh, cursed spite, whatever I was born to set it right. So Hamlet now must trace his tragic quandary. Will he believe a ghost, a figure perhaps conjured out of his grief stricken mind and his dislike of his uncle, or can he accept the fact of a murder committed by someone in so high a place that no ordinary justice can bring him to trial. Is he mad or sane?
For if he is sane, he seems to be the only one in this world. I shall return shortly with that too. Hamlet is not the only one assailed by doubts. Claudius' conscience is disturbing him, and he is afraid of Hamlet as a threat to his uneasy throne. He is more and more frantic to find out what Hamlet's thoughts are. And to this end, he brings to court two friends of Hamlet's from younger days, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, and using their venal nature and ambition for advancement makes them spy. Nor is the the above trying to use his doddering old Chamberlain, Polonius, and through him, his daughter, Ophelia, as informants.
What is this of my nephew, Hamlet, that you wish to speak Polonius? Polonius? My good willy, that only yesterday he came upon her in the closet where she sat sewing. And with a face as white as his shirt, he seized her by the wrist, stared at her face as if he would memorize every feature. And then with the look of a man who's gazed on hell, back slowly out of the room, his eyes never leaving her face, most most strange behavior. Madam, your son is mad. Oh, yes. It's true. Too written by your leave because, you you see, I have a daughter. As well we know. A beautiful daughter who has given me a This is a letter from Hamlet. To my daughters will be revealed.
Doubt thou the stars afire. Doubt that the sun doth move. Doubt truth to be be a liar, but never a doubt I love. Oh, dear Ophelia, I have no heart to reckon my unrelenting sorrow, but that I still love you best. Believe me, Hamlet. Now now this letter from your obedience, my daughter showed me. And how does she receive his love? Oh, Lord Hamlet is a prince above her station. Thus, she must lock herself away from him, refuse his company, receive no tokens. And do you think this has driven him mad? How can we try this further? My lords, may I suggest we could arrange a meeting between my daughter and him while you and I, or old madam, might hide behind the tapestry that breaks the walls? I God will try it. My poor head, son, approach you. Then we can make your first assessment. Now quickly, your Majesties. Hide yourselves away away and let me intercept a minute. Come, come quickly. Get through.
Well, well, well, got it, Mercy. Look who is here. Oh, you know his eyes. Oh, very well, very well. You sell fish? Not I. Oh, it's a pity. I wish you were so honorable, a man. Have you a daughter? I have. Oh, keep her out of the sun. Light is the father of conception, but not the way you'd like your daughter to conceive. Guard her. Still harping on Ophelia? And you you see the man of which, my lords, what are you reading? Words. Words. Words. But what is the matter? Between whom? I I I mean, what is the subject of what you read? Oh, slanderous, sir. For here, this, satirist says that old men have wrinkled faces, a lack of wit, and woefully weak legs, which is not fair, you see, since you could be as old as I am if, like a crab, you could go backward.
No. This is madness. There is method in it. Will you walk with me into the air, my lord? Into my grave? Yes. Indeed. That is Out of the air. But I my lord, may I most humbly take my leave of you? You cannot, take from me anything I will more willingly part with except my life. Except my life. Here you will, Lord Hamlet. To be or not to be, that is the question. Whether it is better in the mind to suffer or end the sea of problems by the sleep of death. To die, to sleep, aye, there's the floor. For in that sleep when we have shuffled off this mortal shell, the dreams that threaten to haunt our peace forever must give us more. First conscience makes cowards of us all and makes us bear the ills we have, afraid of others we cannot know nor dare to risk.
Oh, God. Here comes Ophelia. I cannot drag her down with me. Ah, sweet one, in your prayers remember me and all my sins.
[00:18:55] Unknown:
Oh, Parnett. How do you feel today?
[00:18:58] Unknown:
I hope I thank you. Well, well, well.
[00:19:01] Unknown:
I have remembrance of yours. I should return. Will you take them now?
[00:19:08] Unknown:
I loved you once. Indeed.
[00:19:12] Unknown:
You made me believe so.
[00:19:14] Unknown:
You should not have believed me. I would have taken you unwed but that desire, I loved
[00:19:22] Unknown:
you not. I was the more deceived.
[00:19:24] Unknown:
I felt Get there to a nunnery. Would you want me to make you a breeder of sinners?
[00:19:30] Unknown:
I beg you sweet man. I am sick of womankind.
[00:19:34] Unknown:
God give you one face and you make yourselves another. I will stand no more of it. You've driven me mad. I would proclaim as prince, there be no more marriages. All those that are married already may live save one, save only one. You're still here, Ophelia? Then I I shall take my leave, but hear me to a nunnery. Go. Oh, God. Please help you. Hush, child. And forgive him. He's not in his senses. Just mad, raising mad. I want her. Your majesty
[00:20:08] Unknown:
and father, to see such a noble mind overthrown. It it breaks my heart to see the lady. Take her away. Come, child. We shall weave our tears together.
[00:20:23] Unknown:
Will you see my king? Quite mad. Quite mad. What I heard him speak was not like madness. I think his purpose different although I'm not sure what it is. I still think his grief is from neglected love. Can we not try once more? Try what? Well, the players are here, and all will be bustled for tomorrow's entertainment. But by the day following, if you hold it fit, let Hamlet meet with the queen, queen, his mother, and let her chide him and entreat him to tell her what casts him down. I shall be hidden behind the curtain unknown to them and will report their conference. Yes. Yes. It shall be so.
Madness and anyone great enough to shake the throne must never unwatched go. Thelonious, I hear the players are to be here. What? Right. So they are. Will you come to the play? No. More than that, I would like to talk to them. They are old friends and might lift my spirits. Then the thief is not far away. For for here they come. Yes. You are welcome, masters. You are welcome all. I am glad to see you. Ah, you, sir. You are disguised in the face since I saw you last. Did you come to beard me in Denmark? This beard is better covering than the wrinkled age has put on my face. With your wealth, how good to see you. Let's not wait for tonight but give me a foretaste now. Let me have, let's see, my favorite speech.
What one is that my lord? It begins as I remember the the rugged purist. He whose sable arms black as his purpose did the, did the knight resemble? Yes. That's it. That's it. Let's have it all. Did the knight resemble when he lay couched in the ominous horse, hath now his black and dreadful complexion. Unless things mortal move them not at all, would have made Milch the burning eyes of heaven and passion of the gods for a Hecuba. Bravo. Bravo. Bravo. But you must make all ready for tonight. On to your quarter. Stop a moment, friends.
Yes, friends. Can you play The Murder of Gonzago tomorrow night? But of course. And you could, for me, insert a speech of some dozen or 16 lines which I should set down for you. Give me only time to commit them safe to memory. You shall have it. I promise. Now,
[00:23:00] Unknown:
leave me and make your preparations. With all dispatch, good faith, have it.
[00:23:07] Unknown:
No. I am but a rogue and peasant slave. Is it not monstrous that this player here, all in a fiction, in a dream of passion, can create the emotion to distract himself to tears, and all for nothing. For what? For Hecuba. What Hecuba to him or he to Hecuba that he should weep for her? What would he do if he had the motive and the cue for passion that I have? Why he would drown the stage in tears, make the guilty mad and terrify those still unstained by guilt. Yet I, the son of a dear father murdered, prompted to my revenge by heaven and hell, unable to face my cause, can only unpack my heart with words.
Bloody bawdy villain, Remorseless treacherous lecherous kindless villain. Oh, vengeance. I have heard that some guilty people while sitting at a play, if the scene reflects their guilt, have like a hawk. And if he only blanches, then at last I'll know the truth. The play's the thing, wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king. At last, it seems young Hamlet has, in the words of Lady Macbeth, screwed his courage to the sticking point. But if this last proof of the murder of his father is presented to him, he still must face a terrible problem, how to exact his revenge.
I shall return shortly with act three. It is the evening of the play. About the dais where the play will be performed are seated Ophelia, Polonius, Horatio, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, and all the nobles of the court and their attendants. An expectant buzz fills the hall. And beside the empty seats saved for Hamlet, his friend Horatio beside the empty seats saved for Hamlet, his friend Horatio fits in some excitement, since as a soldier, a play is a new experience for him. Now as they wait, Hamlet turns to the player who will enact the king. Speak the king.
Speak the speech. I pray you're trippingly on the tongue. Don't mouth it as some of our players do or thaw the air with your hands. You you have the words I wrote. I have indeed your honor. Good. Be not too tame though. Let your discretion judge that. Suit the action to the word, the word to the action. The whole purpose of the actor is to hold the mirror up to nature. That should be the first and last end for it over the oh, there comes a scene in the cold. While I take my seat, make ready. So, maybe you must be. This is the pantomime. The prologue which makes the statement of the play, Horatio.
I am not well versed in understanding this art. What, is the play called? The Mousetrap. What? Why, my king, it is an apt title. This is the image of a play done in Vienna. Gonzago is the duke, his wife, Batista, and sure it's a knavish piece of work. Come. Begin. The croaking raven doth bellow for revenge. The croaking raven doth bellow for revenge. Thoughts black, hands axed, gloves thick and time green. Confederate season, else no creature seen. Thou mixture rank You see, my king, or we'll see, how he poisons him in the garden. Then later wins the love of Gonzago's wife. Unwholesome life you serve immediately.
[00:27:29] Unknown:
So poor I, the deadly poison, idiot.
[00:27:34] Unknown:
Give all the plays. Give me some light. Away. This play was not the bottom. What might have been? Oh, yes. Then go and tell my mother I will come to her by and by and lead me all, even you, Horatio. It is now the very witching time of night when churchyards yawn and hell itself breathes out contagion to this world. Now could I drink hot blood? I will go to my mother and will be cruel but not unnatural. I will speak daggers to her, but use none. As for Claudius, his days are numbered. No, madam. Lord Hamlet is on the way. I will conceal myself behind the curtain. Is that right? It is what the king commands. Now, mark you, draw him out. Be round with him. Mother. Mother.
[00:28:46] Unknown:
Don't be afraid. But I hear him coming. Hide yourself.
[00:28:50] Unknown:
Well, mother, why have you called me here?
[00:28:53] Unknown:
Hamlet, you have your mother much offended.
[00:28:57] Unknown:
Mother, you have my father much offended.
[00:29:00] Unknown:
Have you forgotten who I am, my son?
[00:29:03] Unknown:
You are the queen. Queen. Your husband's brother's wife. And would it were not so, you are my mother.
[00:29:12] Unknown:
If that is all you have to say to me,
[00:29:15] Unknown:
I will face you with others who can better defend me. Not till I set you up a glass wherein you may see the inmost part of you. Put it in your mind.
[00:29:23] Unknown:
You will not murder me. How?
[00:29:26] Unknown:
How? Purple in God's name. What? A rat in the curtained walls?
[00:29:43] Unknown:
What are you, Doug?
[00:29:45] Unknown:
I don't know.
[00:29:46] Unknown:
Is it the King? A senseless bloody deed you're on himself.
[00:29:50] Unknown:
A bloody deed? Almost as bad to good mother as kill a king and marry with his brother. Kill a king. Aye, madam. Twas my word. Oh. Craft Polonius. You wretched, rash, intruding fool. I took you for another. Farewell. Stop wringing your hands, mother, and let me wring your heart. What have I done if you treat me so? Such an act that blurs the grace of all your life. What act? What do you blame me for? Look here upon this miniature around my neck and upon the one you wear. My father, your husband, the counterfeit of two brothers. How could you step from this to this?
How can you call it love? For at your age, wisdom should temper the body's urge. You lost a god and found a man so misshapen in his soul that even the most desperate old maid would turn from him in loathing. Go ahead.
[00:30:55] Unknown:
Beat no more.
[00:30:56] Unknown:
You break my heart in two. Then throw away the worse apart and live the purer. And when you are desirous to be blessed, I will blessing beg of you, but go not to my uncle's dead. As for this meddling fool, I'm sorry. I'll dispose of his remains. Hamlet, where is Polonius? In the dust and his soul in heaven. Send your messengers there to seek him. And if they don't find him there, why, seek him in the other place yourself. Hamlet, you must be mad. For your own safety then, we send you straight to England. The bark is ready and your schoolmates Rosencrantz and Guildenstern will see you safe. To England? Aye. Where else? Why, that remains to be seen. Will you wish us all safe returns? Of course we do. You, mother, perhaps.
But tell the king he should not worry. I doubt that we shall all return. Ophelia mad? She came to you thus. It rang my heart. Poor, pretty, lost little soul. Oh, the poison of grief springs from her father's death. Jeshurun, when sorrows come, they don't come in single file but marching wide like I'll not be juggled to hell with allegiance. I will know the truth. I'll be revenged more thoroughly for my father. How did you gain the news so soon? My sister sent me word. Where does she? I would not hate to see her. Let all be revealed. Here she comes now.
Where as you can see?
[00:33:00] Unknown:
That? Is my sister Ophelia? Poor suffering mate.
[00:33:06] Unknown:
She walks as a blind. Her
[00:33:09] Unknown:
head or toe. Her eyes are as vacant as the grave. Sister? You must sing down a down. Oh,
[00:33:18] Unknown:
see here.
[00:33:20] Unknown:
Don't you know me? I know that, ma'am. That is for remembrance. Hey, love. Remember. Oh, Ponzi. That is what's up. Horace. She is mad. There's funnel for you and columbines and rue. I would give you violet but they all withered when my father died And I was abandoned by my mouth. Do you see this? Oh god.
[00:33:48] Unknown:
Laertes, I must talk with you alone. Come. Go with me. Now Hamlet has returned. Would you, Laertes, undertake to show you are your father's son in more than words? I cut his throat in the church. Oh, then should have no bounds. But why offer him sanctuary? Besides, for the common view, a passage of arms would would seem more apt unless I lost. Suppose your rapier point bore an unction, but upon a scratch insured instant death. Since my father had no defense, reason to offer him more. Ah, but trust me to shuffle the foils in such a way as they are presented that the poison blade will be safe in your hand. And yet, it seems a crime on claim Excuse me. Yes me. Yes, my sweet queen. What what ails you?
[00:34:47] Unknown:
One roar upon another's ear must tread. Oh, fear? Yes? What of my sister? Oh, give me the air to bring the news. But she is drowned.
[00:35:03] Unknown:
Oh. Oh, god. Oh, no, Horacio. Not Ophelia. To return to Denmark still alive and find her dead. When is the funeral? Today it might all happen. Then let us get there with all speed.
[00:35:20] Unknown:
No. Hold your ceiling of the grave till I have caught her once more in my arms.
[00:35:26] Unknown:
Who's Greeks can bear such emphasis? Her brother. And you, Hamlet, the Dane. The devil take your soul. Oh. The devil take your soul. He is mad.
[00:35:37] Unknown:
Right. Who is Matt? I loved Ophelia.
[00:35:39] Unknown:
Forty thousand brothers could not make up the love I had for her, but I will fight you, Laertes, if so you might. My god, you will.
[00:35:46] Unknown:
I hope that much I can hold in trust.
[00:35:52] Unknown:
Come, Hamlet. Come, Hamlet. Laertes, give me your hand. My hand to you, sir, and against no man. My hand to you, and against this man. I wish I could persuade you how little wrong I've done. I wish I could be persuaded,
[00:36:06] Unknown:
but that's too late.
[00:36:08] Unknown:
Come. Let us cross swords. Why does his foolish friends I know, Horatio, but there's no harm. Let him expel his agony. I can handle his sword. How about you then? A terrible hit. Well, again. Stay. Stay. Let us drink. Hamlet, take this cup. To your help. I'll play the battle faster. Then I'll venture you, my son. Oh, no question. No. What is it, mother?
[00:36:35] Unknown:
Die, my turn. Die. Your storied swordplay shall not save you.
[00:36:39] Unknown:
A thrust in my back. Why, damn you. Double damn. I'll I'll risk that vicious sword from you and return treachery for treachery. Fair enough. It's but a passing wound. What was the poison right here you took from my hand? Poisoned.
[00:36:56] Unknown:
Give me apple. Oh, what was in that
[00:37:01] Unknown:
draft I took? The draft I put by, but I can see it all now. She put The Modius. She put the poison on my sword and the poison in the drink. So die, villain. Die. Oh, Hamlet. No. And if that's not enough, give me the cup. Open your mouth, tyrant. Swallow your own death potion. Ham it, my prince. Is it well with you? Now. No. Ill Horatio.
[00:37:33] Unknown:
How is it with the other? The queen is dead.
[00:37:36] Unknown:
The earth is fast upon. The king is writhing in his last accident. So be it. Now, at last, I die. Horatio, in this harsh world draw your breath in pain to tear my sky. The rest is silence. Now cracks the noble heart. Good night sweet prince, and the sights of angels. Sing you to your rest. So died Hamlet, prince of Denmark. The play Hamlet was staged in the first year of the seventeenth century, two hundred and seventy five years ago. It was a play of deep psychological insight, full of drama to excite an audience, and it has lasted all these years. The people and the problems are not so different from what we have today.
Only the genius of one man has guaranteed that the play will last as long as language remains our means of communication and radio is one means of bringing that to you. Our cast included Tony Roberts, Ian Martin, Arnold Moss, E. V. Juster, and Bob Caliban. The entire production was under the direction of Hyman Brown. Radio Mystery Theater was sponsored in part by Allied Van Lines. This is EG Marshall inviting you to return to our mystery theater for another adventure in the macabre. Until next time. Pleasant dream.
[00:39:41] Unknown:
Mystery Theater program is furnished by CBS Radio and was brought to you in part by ShopRite Supermarkets. Stay tuned now for the news at eight with John Scott in W 0 R, New York.
[00:39:51] Unknown:
The nation may have a record wheat and corn crop this year. Senator Mansfield tells vice president of Rockefeller to clear the air in his dispute with senator Jackson, and secretary of state Kissinger takes off for Africa. It's 61 degrees in clear Mid Manhattan. The man's is clear and cool tonight with a low of 45 to 50. Sunny tomorrow with a high in the upper sixties. This is
Introduction and Overview of Hamlet
Hamlet's Return to Elsinore
The Ghost's Revelation
Claudius' Conspiracy
Hamlet's Soliloquy and Ophelia's Encounter
The Play Within a Play
Confrontation with Gertrude
Ophelia's Madness and Laertes' Return
The Duel and Tragic End
Conclusion and Reflection on Hamlet
