TEXT:
POLONIUS
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 Ophelia, I am ill at these numbers;
I have not art to reckon my groans: but that
I love thee best, O most best, believe it. Adieu.
'Thine evermore most dear lady, whilst
this machine is to him, HAMLET.'
This, in obedience, hath my daughter shown me,
And more above, hath his solicitings,
As they fell out by time, by means and place,
All given to mine ear.
CLAUDIUS
But how hath she
Received his love?
POLONIUS
What do you think of me?
CLAUDIUS
As of a man faithful and honourable.
POLONIUS
I would fain prove so. But what might you think,
When I had seen this hot love on the wing--
As I perceived it, I must tell you that,
Before my daughter told me--what might you,
Or my dear majesty your queen here, think,
If I had play'd the desk or table-book,
Or given my heart a winking, mute and dumb,
Or look'd upon this love with idle sight;
What might you think?
NOTES:
PTOLEMY
Claudius Ptolemy (c. AD 100 – c. 170) was a Greco-Roman astronomer, mathematician, geographer and astrologer. He also wrote a short poem that was included in the Greek Anthology. He lived in Alexandria. He wrote on music, on science, and is particularly noted for his treatises on how the earth is the centre of the universe, and that the sun rotates around it.
MACHINE
Hamletmachine (Die Hamletmaschine) by Heiner Muller was written in 1977. Although it is only about nine pages long, it is a dense and sometimes shocking response to Shakespeare's play.
ASTRONOMY in HAMLET
Here is the article I mentioned - an extensive discussion of Astronomy in Hamlet.