No Fear Shakespeare
Richard III
Get this No Fear to go!
Act 2, Scene 4, Page 2
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DUCHESS
I hope he is, but yet let mothers doubt.
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DUCHESS
I hope he is, but mothers get to have their doubts.
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25 |
YORK
Now, by my troth, if I had been remembered,
I could have given my uncle’s grace a flout
To touch his growth nearer than he touched mine.
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YORK
Hey, if I’d remembered something about him, I could have had a good comeback for my uncle, touching on his growth worse than he touched on mine.
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DUCHESS
How, my pretty York? I prithee let me hear it.
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DUCHESS
What would you have said, my young York? Do tell.
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30 |
YORK
Marry, they say my uncle grew so fast
That he could gnaw a crust at two hours old.
'Twas full two years ere I could get a tooth.
Grandam, this would have been a biting jest.
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YORK
Indeed, they say my uncle grew so fast that he could gnaw on a crust of bread when he was two hours old. It took me two years before I had a single tooth. Grandmother, this would have been a biting joke.
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DUCHESS
I prithee, pretty York, who told thee this?
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DUCHESS
Pretty York, who told you about his teeth?
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YORK
Grandam, his nurse.
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YORK
His nurse, grandmother.
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DUCHESS
His nurse? Why, she was dead ere thou wast born.
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DUCHESS
His nurse? Why, she was dead before you were even born.
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YORK
If ’twere not she, I cannot tell who told me.
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YORK
Well, if it wasn’t her, I don’t know.
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QUEEN ELIZABETH
A parlous boy! Go to, you are too shrewd.
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QUEEN ELIZABETH
A mischievous child. Come, come, you are too clever for your own good.
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DUCHESS
Good madam, be not angry with the child.
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DUCHESS
Good lady, don’t be angry with the child.
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QUEEN ELIZABETH
Pitchers have ears.
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QUEEN ELIZABETH
Little pitchers have big ears.
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Enter a MESSENGER
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A MESSENGER enters. |
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ARCHBISHOP
Here comes a messenger. —What news?
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ARCHBISHOP
Here comes a messenger. What’s the news?
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MESSENGER
Such news, my lord, as grieves me to report.
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MESSENGER
My lord, it’s news I wish I didn’t have to report.
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