No Fear Shakespeare
Hamlet
Get this No Fear to go!
Act 1, Scene 1, Page 7
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If there be any good thing to be done
That may to thee do ease and grace to me,
Speak to me.
If thou art privy to thy country’s fate,
Which happily foreknowing may avoid,
Oh, speak!
Or if thou hast uphoarded in thy life
Extorted treasure in the womb of earth,
For which, they say, you spirits oft walk in death,
Speak of it. Stay and speak!
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If there’s any good deed I can do that will bring you
peace and me honor, speak to me. If you have some secret knowledge
of your country’s sad fate—which might be
avoided if we knew about it—then, please, speak. Or if
you’ve got some buried treasure somewhere, which they say
often makes ghosts restless, then tell us about it. Stay and
speak!
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The cock crows |
A rooster crows. |
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—Stop
it, Marcellus.
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Keep it from leaving, Marcellus.
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MARCELLUS
Shall I strike at it with my partisan?
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MARCELLUS
Should I strike it with my spear?
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HORATIO
Do, if it will not stand.
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HORATIO
Yes, if it doesn’t stand still.
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BARNARDO
'Tis here.
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BARNARDO
It’s over here.
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HORATIO
'Tis
here.
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HORATIO
There it is.
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Exit GHOST
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The GHOST exits. |
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145 |
MARCELLUS
'Tis gone.
We do it wrong, being so majestical,
To offer it the show of violence,
For it is, as the air, invulnerable,
And our vain blows malicious mockery.
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MARCELLUS
It’s gone. We were wrong to threaten it with violence,
since it looks so much like a king. Besides, we can’t
hurt it anymore than we can hurt the air. Our attack was stupid,
futile, and wicked.
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BARNARDO
It was about to speak when the cock crew.
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BARNARDO
It was about to say something when the rooster crowed.
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