Original: Look here upon th’s picture, and on this,
Modern: Look at this picture, and then at this one,

Original: The counterfeit presentment of two brothers.
Modern: These painted portraits of two brothers.

Original: See what a grace was seated on this brow;
Modern: See what dignity and nobility was in this face;

Original: Hyperion’s curls; the front of Jove himself;
Modern: Hair like the sun god’s; a forehead like the king of the gods;

Original: An eye like Mars, to threaten and command;
Modern: Eyes like the god of war, powerful and commanding;

Original: A station like the herald Mercury
Modern: A posture like the messenger god Mercury

Original: New lighted on a heaven-kissing hill:
Modern: Who has just landed on a mountaintop that touches the sky:

Original: A combination and a form indeed
Modern: A combination of features and a body

Original: Where every god did seem to set his seal
Modern: Where every god seemed to leave their mark of approval

Original: To give the world assurance of a man.
Modern: To show the world what a perfect man should be.

Original: This was your husband. Look you now what follows.
Modern: This was your husband. Now look at what comes next.

Original: Here is your husband, like a mildew’d ear
Modern: Here is your current husband, like a diseased, rotten ear of grain

Original: Blasting his wholesome brother. Have you eyes?
Modern: Infecting his healthy brother. Do you have eyes?

Original: Could you on this fair mountain leave to feed,
Modern: Could you stop feasting on this beautiful mountain,

Original: And batten on this moor? Ha! have you eyes
Modern: And stuff yourself on this barren wasteland? Ha! Can you even see?

Original: You cannot call it love; for at your age
Modern: You can’t call this love; because at your age

Original: The heyday in the blood is tame, it’s humble,
Modern: The wild passion of youth is calmed down, it’s gentle,

Original: And waits upon the judgment; and what judgment
Modern: And is controlled by good sense; and what kind of judgment

Original: Would step from this to this? Sense sure you have,
Modern: Would move from this man to that one? You must have your senses,

Original: Else could you not have motion; but sure that sense
Modern: Otherwise you couldn’t even move; but clearly those senses

Original: Is apoplex’d; for madness would not err,
Modern: Are paralyzed; because even insanity wouldn’t make this mistake,

Original: Nor sense to ecstacy was ne’er so thrall’d
Modern: And the senses were never so enslaved by wild emotion

Original: But it reserv’d some quantity of choice
Modern: That they didn’t keep some ability to choose

Original: To serve in such a difference. What devil was’t
Modern: When faced with such an obvious difference. What devil was it

Original: That thus hath cozen’d you at hoodman-blind?
Modern: That tricked you in this game of blind man’s bluff?

Original: Eyes without feeling, feeling without sight,
Modern: Eyes that can’t feel, touch without sight,

Original: Ears without hands or eyes, smelling sans all,
Modern: Ears without hands or eyes, smell without anything else,

Original: Or but a sickly part of one true sense
Modern: Or even just a weak part of one working sense

Original: Could not so mope.
Modern: Couldn’t be this stupidly confused.

Original: O shame! where is thy blush? Rebellious hell,
Modern: Oh shame! Where is your embarrassment? If sinful passion,

Original: If thou canst mutine in a matron’s bones,
Modern: If you can rebel in a mature woman’s body,

Original: To flaming youth let virtue be as wax
Modern: Then let young people’s virtue be like wax

Original: And melt in her own fire. Proclaim no shame
Modern: And melt in its own heat. Don’t declare it shameful

Original: When the compulsive ardour gives the charge,
Modern: When uncontrollable desire attacks,

Original: Since frost itself as actively doth burn,
Modern: Since even the cold frost burns just as hotly,

Original: And reason panders will.
Modern: And reason itself serves lust.

In Act III, Scene 4 of Hamlet, the Prince confronts his mother Gertrude in her private chamber, having been summoned there after his disruptive behavior during the play-within-a-play. The scene begins with Polonius hiding behind a tapestry to eavesdrop on their conversation at Claudius’s request. Hamlet enters and immediately launches into a heated verbal assault on his mother, condemning her hasty remarriage to his uncle. When Gertrude cries out for help during their intense exchange, the concealed Polonius also calls out, prompting Hamlet to thrust his sword through the tapestry, killing the old courtier instantly. Upon discovering he has slain Polonius rather than Claudius (whom he had hoped was hiding there), Hamlet shows little remorse and drags the body aside.

The remainder of the scene consists of Hamlet’s continued berating of his mother, in which he forces her to compare portraits of his father and Claudius, demanding she acknowledge the vast difference between the two men. During this confrontation, the Ghost of Hamlet’s father appears, visible only to Hamlet, urging him to comfort his mother and reminding him of his duty of revenge. Gertrude, unable to see the Ghost, becomes convinced that Hamlet is mad as she watches him speak to what appears to be empty air. The scene concludes with Hamlet advising his mother not to sleep with Claudius and warning her not to reveal that his madness is merely an act, before he exits, dragging Polonius’s corpse with him.

Hamlet tells the story of Prince Hamlet of Denmark, who is visited by the ghost of his recently deceased father. The ghost reveals that he was murdered by Hamlet’s uncle Claudius, who has now married Hamlet’s mother Gertrude and assumed the throne. Commanded by his father’s spirit to seek revenge, Hamlet struggles with doubt, melancholy, and the moral complexity of his task. To investigate the ghost’s claims and plan his revenge, he feigns madness, which creates tension throughout the Danish court.

As Hamlet deliberates, his erratic behavior affects everyone around him, particularly his love interest Ophelia, daughter of the king’s advisor Polonius. To test Claudius’s guilt, Hamlet stages a play mirroring his father’s murder, which confirms the king’s culpability. However, Hamlet’s actions become increasingly destructive—he accidentally kills Polonius while the old man spies on him, and his rejection of Ophelia contributes to her descent into genuine madness and eventual drowning.

The play reaches its climax when Ophelia’s brother Laertes returns to avenge his father’s death. Claudius manipulates Laertes into challenging Hamlet to a duel, secretly poisoning Laertes’s sword and preparing poisoned wine as backup. The final scene erupts in tragedy: during the duel, both Hamlet and Laertes are wounded by the poisoned blade, Gertrude accidentally drinks the poisoned wine, and Hamlet finally kills Claudius. As Hamlet dies, he names Prince Fortinbras of Norway as Denmark’s next ruler, bringing the cycle of revenge and political instability to a close. The play ends with Fortinbras restoring order to the Danish court as bodies are carried off in a funeral march.