No Fear Shakespeare
As You Like It
Get this No Fear to go!
Act 3, Scene 4, Page 2
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CELIA
Nay, certainly, there is no truth in him.
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CELIA
Really, he’s a total liar.
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ROSALIND
Do you think so?
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ROSALIND
Do you think so?
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CELIA
Yes, I think he is not a pick-purse nor a horse-stealer, but
for his verity in love, I do think him as concave as a covered
goblet or a worm-eaten nut.
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CELIA
Yes. He’s not a pickpocket or a horse thief, but when it comes to truth in love, he’s as hollow as a cup or a nut hollowed out by a worm.
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ROSALIND
Not true in love?
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ROSALIND
You think his feelings aren’t true?
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CELIA
Yes, when he is in, but I think he is not in.
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CELIA
Oh, I think they are—when he’s in love. But he’s not in love.
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ROSALIND
You have heard him swear downright he was.
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ROSALIND
But you heard him swear up and down that he was.
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CELIA
“Was” is not “is.” Besides, the oath of a lover is no stronger
than the word of a tapster. They are both the confirmer of
false reckonings. He attends here in the forest on the duke
your father.
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CELIA
He “was,” but that doesn’t mean he is anymore. Besides, the promises of a lover are as untrustworthy as a bartender handing you an inflated tab: they both swear to their lies. He’s staying in the forest with your father now.
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ROSALIND
I met the duke yesterday and had much question with him.
He asked me of what parentage I was. I told him, of as good
as he. So he laughed and let me go. But what talk we of
fathers when there is such a man as Orlando?
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ROSALIND
I met my father in the woods yesterday and had a long conversation with him. He asked me who my parents were, and I told him they were as good as he was. He laughed at that and let me go. But why are we talking about my father, when a man like Orlando exists?
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CELIA
Oh, that’s a brave man. He writes brave verses, speaks
brave words, swears brave oaths, and breaks them bravely,
quite traverse, athwart the heart of his lover, as a puny tilter
that spurs his horse but on one side breaks his staff like a
noble goose; but all’s brave that youth mounts and folly
guides.
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CELIA
Oh, sure, he’s a brave man! He writes brave poems, speaks brave words, makes brave promises, and then breaks them just as bravely. He’s like a cowardly jouster, who breaks his lance across his opponent’s shield, rather than directly against it. But everything’s brave that a young man does and foolishness leads.
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