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No Fear Shakespheare

Richard III

William Shakespeare

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Act 2, Scene 3

Original Text

Modern Text
Enter one CITIZEN at one door, and another at the other
Two CITIZENS enter through different doors.

FIRST CITIZEN
Good morrow, neighbor, whither away so fast?
 FIRST CITIZEN
Good morrow, neighbor, whither away so fast?


SECOND CITIZEN
I promise you I scarcely know myself.
Hear you the news abroad?
 SECOND CITIZEN
I’m telling you, I hardly know myself. Did you hear the news that’s going around?

FIRST CITIZEN
Yes, that the king is dead.
 FIRST CITIZEN
Yes, that the king is dead.

5
 SECOND CITIZEN
Ill news, by 'r Lady. Seldom comes the better.
I fear, I fear, ’twill prove a giddy world.
 SECOND CITIZEN
Bad news, by God. The news is always bad. But this news is bound to make the world go mad.
Enter THIRD CITIZEN
A THIRD CITIZEN enters.

THIRD CITIZEN
Neighbors, God speed.
 THIRD CITIZEN
Neighbors, hello.

FIRST CITIZEN
     Give you good morrow, sir.
 FIRST CITIZEN
Good day to you, sir.


THIRD CITIZEN
Doth this news hold of good King Edward’s
death?
 THIRD CITIZEN
Is it true that good King Edward has died?

10		 SECOND CITIZEN
Ay, sir, it is too true, God help the while.
 SECOND CITIZEN
Yes, sir, it’s all too true, God help us.

THIRD CITIZEN
Then, masters, look to see a troublous world.
 THIRD CITIZEN
Then, gentlemen, we can count on trouble.

FIRST CITIZEN
No, no, by God’s good grace, his son shall reign.
 FIRST CITIZEN
No, no, with God’s help, his son will be king.

THIRD CITIZEN
Woe to the land that’s governed by a child.
 THIRD CITIZEN
It’s bad news when a country is ruled by a child.


15

 SECOND CITIZEN
In him there is a hope of government,
Which, in his nonage, council under him,
And, in his full and ripened years, himself,
No doubt shall then, and till then, govern well.
 SECOND CITIZEN
His counselors will govern as long as he’s a minor, and then he’ll take over. It shouldn’t go so badly.
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