$Act IV, Scene 3
$Elsinore. A room in the Castle.	 

[Enter King]

Claudius. 
I have sent to seek him and to find the body.
How dangerous is it that this man goes loose!
Yet must not we put the strong law on him.
He's loved of the distracted multitude,
Who like not in their judgment, but their eyes.
And where 'tis so, th' offender's scourge is weighed,
But never the offense. To bear all smooth and even,
This sudden sending him away must seem
Deliberate pause. Diseases desperate grown
By desperate appliance are relieved,
Or not at all.

[Enter Rosencrantz] 

Claudius.
How now, what hath befall'n?

Rosencrantz. 
Where the dead body is bestowed, my lord,
We cannot get from him.

Claudius. But where is he?

Rosencrantz. Without, my lord; guarded, to know your pleasure.

Claudius. Bring him before us.

Rosencrantz. Ho, Guildenstern! Bring in my lord.

[Enter Hamlet and Guildenstern, with Attendants]

Claudius. Now, Hamlet, where's Polonius?

Hamlet. At supper.

Claudius. At supper? Where? 

Hamlet. Not where he eats, but where he is eaten. A certain 
convocation of politic worms are e'en at him. Your worm is your 
only emperor for diet. We fat all creatures else to fat us, and 
we fat ourselves for maggots. Your fat king and your lean beggar 
is but variable service- two dishes, but to one table. That's the 
end.

Claudius. Alas, alas!

Hamlet. A man may fish with the worm that hath eat of a king, and eat 
of the fish that hath fed of that worm.

Claudius. What dost thou mean by this?

Hamlet. Nothing but to show you how a king may go a progress through 
the guts of a beggar.

Claudius. Where is Polonius?

Hamlet. In heaven. Send thither to see. If your messenger find him not 
there, seek him i' th' other place yourself. But indeed, if you
find him not within this month, you shall nose him as you go up 
the stair, into the lobby.

Claudius. Go seek him there.

Hamlet. He will stay till you come.

[Exeunt Attendants]

Claudius. Hamlet, this deed, for thine especial safety,- 
Which we do tender as we dearly grieve 
For that which thou hast done,- must send thee hence 
With fiery quickness. Therefore prepare thyself. 
The bark is ready and the wind at help, 
Th' associates tend, and everything is bent 
For England.

Hamlet. For England?

Claudius. Ay, Hamlet.

Hamlet. Good.

Claudius. So is it, if thou knew'st our purposes.

Hamlet. I see a cherub that sees them. But come, for England! 
Farewell, dear mother.

Claudius. Thy loving father, Hamlet.

Hamlet. My mother! Father and mother is man and wife; man and wife is
one flesh; and so, my mother. Come, for England!

[Hamlet exits]

Claudius. Follow him at foot; tempt him with speed aboard. 
Delay it not; I'll have him hence to-night. 
Away! for everything is seal'd and done
That else leans on th' affair. Pray you make haste.

[Exeunt Rosencrantz and Guildenstern]

Claudius. And, England, if my love thou hold'st at aught,- 
As my great power thereof may give thee sense, 
Since yet thy cicatrice looks raw and red
After the Danish sword, and thy free awe 
Pays homage to us,- thou mayst not coldly set 
Our sovereign process, which imports at full, 
By letters congruing to that effect, 
The present death of Hamlet. Do it, England; 
For like the hectic in my blood he rages, 
And thou must cure me. Till I know 'tis done, 
Howe'er my haps, my joys were ne'er begun. 

[Claudius exits]