No Fear Shakespeare
Twelfth Night
Get this No Fear to go!
Act 3, Scene 1
Original Text |
Modern Text |
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Enter VIOLA, and the FOOL playing with a tabor |
VIOLA and the FOOL, playing a drum, enter. |
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VIOLA
Save thee, friend, and thy music. Dost thou live by thy
tabour?
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VIOLA
God bless you, my friend, and your music too. Do you make your living by playing that drum?
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FOOL
No, sir, I live by the church.
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FOOL
No, sir, I live by the church.
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VIOLA
Art thou a churchman?
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VIOLA
Oh, you’re a clergyman?
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5 |
FOOL
No such matter, sir. I do live by the church; for I do live at
my house, and my house doth stand by the church.
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FOOL
No, I live by the church because I live in a house, and my house is by the church.
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VIOLA
So thou mayst say the king lies by a beggar if a beggar dwell
near him, or the church stands by thy tabor, if thy tabor
stand by the church.
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VIOLA
You could just as easily say that a king sleeps near a beggar if the beggar lives near him, or that the church is supported by your drum because it “stands by” your drum.
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10 |
FOOL
You have said, sir. To see this age! A sentence is but a
cheveril glove to a good wit. How quickly the wrong side
may be turned outward!
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FOOL
You’re right, sir. What a wonderful time to be alive! Sentences can be turned inside out so easily nowadays!
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VIOLA
Nay, that’s certain. They that dally nicely with words may
quickly make them wanton.
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VIOLA
That’s true. People who fool around with words too much can make words act like whores—changing all the time, and immoral too.
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15 |
FOOL
I would therefore my sister had no name, sir.
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FOOL
That’s why I wish my sister didn’t have a name, sir.
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VIOLA
Why, man?
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VIOLA
Why, man?
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