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PLAYER KING
Full thirty times hath Phoebus'
cart gone round
Neptune’s salt wash and
Tellus' orbèd ground,
And thirty dozen moons with borrowed
sheen
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About the world have times twelve thirties
been,
Since love our hearts and Hymen did our
hands
Unite commutual in most sacred
bands.
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PLAYER KING
It’s been thirty years since we
were married.
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PLAYER QUEEN
So many journeys may the sun and moon
Make us again count o'er ere
love be done.
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But woe is me! You are so sick of
late,
So far from cheer and from your former
state,
That I distrust you. Yet though I
distrust,
Discomfort you, my lord, it nothing
must.
For women fear too much, even as they
love,
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And women’s fear and love hold
quantity,
In neither aught, or in extremity.
Now what my love is, proof hath made you
know,
And as my love is sized, my fear is
so:
Where love is great, the littlest doubts
are fear.
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Where little fears grow great, great love
grows there.
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PLAYER QUEEN
I hope we stay in love for thirty more
years! But I’m sad. You’ve been so gloomy
lately, so unlike your usual cheerful self, that I worry
something is wrong. But don’t let this upset you,
since women are too afraid in love—for them, love and
fear go hand in hand. You know very well how much I love you,
and my fear is just as deep. When someone’s love is
great, the little worries become very big. So when you see
someone who worries a lot about little things, you know
they’re really in love.
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PLAYER KING
Faith, I must leave thee, love, and shortly
too.
My operant powers their functions leave to
do.
And thou shalt live in this fair world
behind,
Honored, beloved, and haply one as
kind
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For husband shalt thou—
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PLAYER KING
My love, I will have to leave you soon. My
body is growing weak, and I will leave you behind in this
beautiful world, honored and much loved. Perhaps
you’ll find another
husband—
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PLAYER QUEEN Oh, confound the rest!
Such love must needs be treason in my
breast.
In second husband let me be
accursed!
None wed the second but who killed the
first.
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PLAYER QUEEN
Oh, damn everyone else! Remarrying would be
treason to my heart. Curse me if I take a second husband. When a
woman takes a second husband, it’s because
she’s killed off the first.
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HAMLET
(aside)Wormwood, wormwood.
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HAMLET
(to himself) Harsh!
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