No Fear Shakespeare
The Taming of the Shrew
Get this No Fear to go!
Induction, Scene 2, Page 6
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95 |
SLY
Madam wife, they say that I have dreamed
And slept above some fifteen year or more.
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SLY
Madam wife, they say I’ve been dreaming or asleep for
more than fifteen years.
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Ay, and the time seems thirty unto me,
Being all this time abandoned from your bed.
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Yes, and it seemed twice as long to me, having been kept from your
bed that whole time.
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100 |
SLY
'Tis much.—Servants, leave me and her alone.
Madam, undress you and come now to bed.
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SLY
That’s too long.—Servants, leave her and me
alone. Now, madam, undress and come to bed.
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105 |
PAGE
Thrice noble lord, let me entreat of you
To pardon me yet for a night or two,
Or if not so, until the sun be set.
For your physicians have expressly charged,
In peril to incur your former malady,
That I should yet absent me from your bed.
I hope this reason stands for my excuse.
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Thrice noble lord, I beg you to excuse me for another night or
two—or at least until nightfall. Your doctors have
expressly forbidden me to sleep with you, as there’s a risk
that you might have a relapse. I hope this explanation will stand as
my excuse.
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SLY
Ay, it stands so that I may hardly tarry so long. But I would be
loath to fall into my dreams again. I will therefore tarry in
despite of the flesh and the blood.
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SLY
Well, something’s standing up. I’m not sure I
can wait that long. Still, I’d hate to see my former dreams
return. So I will wait, however flesh and blood may feel about it.
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Enter a MESSENGER
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A MESSENGER. |
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110 115 |
MESSENGER
Your Honor’s players, hearing your amendment,
Are come to play a pleasant comedy,
For so your doctors hold it very meet,
Seeing too much sadness hath congealed your blood,
And melancholy is the nurse of frenzy.
Therefore they thought it good you hear a play
And frame your mind to mirth and merriment,
Which bars a thousand harms and lengthens life.
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MESSENGER
Your Honor’s actors, hearing of your recovery, have come
to perform a pleasing comedy for you—and your doctors
approve wholeheartedly. They say that too much suffering has made
your blood coagulate, and that sadness leads to madness. So they
think it’s a good idea for you to watch a play and direct
your thoughts toward laughter and merriment—two strong
preventive medicines that foster long life.
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