No Fear Shakespeare
Hamlet
Get this No Fear to go!
Act 4, Scene 4, Page 2
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20 |
CAPTAIN
Truly to speak, and with no addition,
We go to gain a little patch of ground
That hath in it no profit but the name.
To pay five ducats, five, I would not farm it.
Nor will it yield to Norway or the Pole
A ranker rate, should it be sold in fee.
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CAPTAIN
To tell the truth, we’re fighting to win a little patch
of ground that’s not worth anything. I myself
wouldn’t pay five ducats for it, if someone offered it to
me to farm. And it won’t provide any more profits than
that to either the Norwegian or the Pole.
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HAMLET
Why, then the Polack never will defend it.
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HAMLET
So then the Poles won’t be willing to defend it.
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CAPTAIN
Yes, it is already garrisoned.
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CAPTAIN
Oh, yes they will. They’ve already stationed troops
there.
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HAMLET
Two thousand souls and twenty thousand ducats
Will not debate the question of this straw.
This is th' impostume of much wealth and peace,
That inward breaks and shows no cause without
Why the man dies.—I humbly thank you, sir.
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HAMLET
(to himself) Even two thousand men
and twenty-thousand ducats are just the beginning of what it will
cost to settle this pointless matter. This is what happens when
countries have too much money and peace. This quarrel is like an
abcess that grows inside someone until it bursts and kills them, and
no one knows why. (to the CAPTAIN)
Thank you very much for the information, sir.
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CAPTAIN
God be wi' you, sir.
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CAPTAIN
Good-bye, sir.
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Exit CAPTAIN
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The CAPTAIN
exits. |
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ROSENCRANTZ
Will ’t please you go, my
lord?
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ROSENCRANTZ
Will you please come now, my lord?
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30 |
HAMLET
I’ll be with you straight. Go a little before.
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HAMLET
I’ll be there in a minute. Start without me.
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Exeunt all except HAMLET
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Everyone except HAMLET
exits. |
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35 |
How all occasions do inform against me,
And spur my dull revenge! What is a man
If his chief good and market of his time
Be but to sleep and feed? A beast, no more.
Sure, he that made us with such large discourse,
Looking before and after, gave us not
That capability and godlike reason
To fust in us unused. Now, whether it be
Bestial oblivion, or some craven scruple
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My God! Everything I see shows me how wrong I am and tells me to
hurry up and get on with my revenge. What is a human being if he
just eats and sleeps? Nothing more than a beast. God
didn’t create us with such a huge power of thought and a
divine capacity for reason in order for us not to use them. Now,
whether it’s animal-like mindlessness, or the cowardly
hesitation
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