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Modern Text |
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PHILOSTRATE
100So please your grace, the Prologue is addressed.
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PHILOSTRATE Your grace, the person who is going to deliver the prologue is
ready.
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THESEUS Let him approach.
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THESEUS Let him come forward.
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Enter QUINCE as the
PROLOGUE
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The PROLOGUE
(QUINCE) enters.
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PROLOGUE
(delivered by
QUINCE)
If we offend, it is with our good will.
That you should think we come not to offend,
105But with good will. To show our simple skill,
That is the true beginning of our end.
Consider then we come but in despite.
We do not come as minding to contest you,
Our true intent is. All for your delight
110We are not here. That you should here repent you,
The actors are at hand, and by their show
You shall know all that you are like to know.
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PROLOGUE If we happen to offend you, it’s because we want to. We
don’t want you to think we came here to offend you,
except that we want to offend you with our good intentions. Our plan
to show off our little bit of talent will wind up getting us
executed. Please keep in mind we’re only here out of
spite. We don’t come here with the intention of making
you happy. We’re absolutely not here to delight you. The
actors are ready to come out and make you sorry. By watching their
show, you’ll find out everything you’re likely
to know.
If Quince had read this speech with the proper punctuation, it would mean “If we happen to offend you, we hope you know that we didn’t come here intending to offend you, but with the good intention of showing off our little bit of skill. That’s all we want to do. Please keep in mind that we came here only to please you. Our true intention is to delight you. We didn’t come here to make you sorry. The actors are ready…” |
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THESEUS This fellow doth not stand upon points.
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THESEUS This guy doesn’t pay much attention to
punctuation.
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LYSANDER He hath rid his prologue like a rough colt. He knows not the
stop. A good moral, my lord: it is not enough to speak, but
to speak true.
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LYSANDER He rode that prologue like a wild horse. He didn’t know
how to stop it. The moral of this story is that it’s not
enough to speak; you have to speak grammatically.
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HIPPOLYTA Indeed he hath played on his prologue like a child on a
recorder—a sound, but not in government.
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HIPPOLYTA Yes, he performed his prologue like a child plays a
recorder—he can make sounds, but they’re out
of control.
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