The Complete Works of William Shakespeare In Plain and Simple English (Translated) (527 page)

Bring them in front of us. Ladies, take your seats.

Exit PHILOSTRATE

HIPPOLYTA

I love not to see wretchedness o'er charged

I do not like to see poor people asked to go above their capabilities

And duty in his service perishing.

And fail in their attempts to do something right.

THESEUS

Why, gentle sweet, you shall see no such thing.

Why, my dear, you will not see such a thing.

HIPPOLYTA

He says they can do nothing in this kind.

Philostrate says they cannot act or perform well at all.

THESEUS

The kinder we, to give them thanks for nothing.

Then we are kind to thank them for giving us nothing.

Our sport shall be to take what they mistake:

It will be fun to accept their mistakes,

And what poor duty cannot do, noble respect

And anyway, noble people should judge what duty and hard work cannot accomplish

Takes it in might, not merit.

By its attempts, not by its artistic merit.

Where I have come, great clerks have purposed

I have traveled to places where brilliant thinkers have tried

To greet me with premeditated welcomes;

To greet me with planned out and memorized speeches,

Where I have seen them shiver and look pale,

And time after time I watched them get nervous and become pale,

Make periods in the midst of sentences,

Stutter and stop in the middle of their sentences,

Throttle their practised accent in their fears

Mess up their formal tones from being afraid,

And in conclusion dumbly have broke off,

And finally end their speeches prematurely,

Not paying me a welcome. Trust me, sweet,

In the end not even welcoming me. Trust me,

Out of this silence yet I pick'd a welcome;

From their silence and awkwardness I still saw their intent to welcome me,

And in the modesty of fearful duty

And in their humbleness that made them afraid,

I read as much as from the rattling tongue

I saw just as much of a welcoming speech as I do from those who speak easily

Of saucy and audacious eloquence.

And give creative, loud, eloquent speeches.

Love, therefore, and tongue-tied simplicity

Thus, someone who loves but still falters in their simple speech

In least speak most, to my capacity.

Means most to me and can say the most, even when saying the least.

Re-enter PHILOSTRATE

PHILOSTRATE

So please your grace, the Prologue is address'd.

If you are ready, my grace, the prologue is ready to be given.

THESEUS

Let him approach.

Let him start.

Flourish of trumpets

Enter QUINCE for the Prologue

Prologue

If we offend, it is with our good will.

If we offend you, know that we offend you out of our desire to.

That you should think, we come not to offend,

Or, in other words, we haven’t come to offend you,

But with good will. To show our simple skill,

But we came to bother you most with our good intentions. To show the talent of our performance

That is the true beginning of our end.

This is the beginning of our deaths.

Consider then we come but in despite.

Recognize that we are coming here in spite of.

We do not come as minding to contest you,

We do not come here to make you oppose you,

Our true intent is. All for your delight

Our true goal. For your happiness,

We are not here. That you should here repent you,

We didn’t come. That you should be forced to apologize,

The actors are at hand and by their show

The actors are ready to make you do that, and from the play

You shall know all that you are like to know.

You will find out everything you are meant to know.

THESEUS

This fellow doth not stand upon points.

This man doesn’t see the actual punctuation.

LYSANDER

He hath rid his prologue like a rough colt; he knows

He read the prologue like one riding an unbroken horse, not knowing

not the stop. A good moral, my lord: it is not

when to stop. A good lesson, my lord: just

enough to speak, but to speak true.

speaking is not good enough – it is also important to speak well, with good grammar.

HIPPOLYTA

Indeed he hath played on his prologue like a child

Yes, he spoke that prologue like a child

on a recorder; a sound, but not in government.

playin a recorder – all sounds with no coherence.

THESEUS

His speech, was like a tangled chain; nothing

His speech was like a knotted and tangled chain: nothing

impaired, but all disordered. Who is next?

was wrong with the actual speech, but the parts were all jumbled. Who is next?

Enter Pyramus and Thisbe, Wall, Moonshine, and Lion

Prologue (QUINCE)

Gentles, perchance you wonder at this show;

Gentlemen and ladies, you might be confused at this play,

But wonder on, till truth make all things plain.

But continue to think on it and everything will be clear.

This man is Pyramus, if you would know;

This man is Pyramus,

This beauteous lady Thisby is certain.

And this beautiful lady is Thisby.

This man, with lime and rough-cast, doth present

This man covered with cement and gravel is

Wall, that vile Wall which did these lovers sunder;

the Wall, the evil Wall which separated the lovers

And through Wall's chink, poor souls, they are content

who, through a small hole in the Wall, they had to

To whisper. At the which let no man wonder.

whisper. So that should clear up his part.

This man, with lanthorn, dog, and bush of thorn,

And this man, with the lantern, dog, and thornbush,

Presenteth Moonshine; for, if you will know,

Is playing the Moonshine – since, you know,

By moonshine did these lovers think no scorn

It was by the moon that these lovers without shame

To meet at Ninus' tomb, there, there to woo.

met at Ninus’ tomb, in order to court.

This grisly beast, which Lion hight by name,

This ugly animal, which we call a lion,

The trusty Thisby, coming first by night,

Saw Thisby, after she came to the tomb on the first night,

Did scare away, or rather did affright;

And scared her away, and frightened her severely.

And, as she fled, her mantle she did fall,

As she ran away, her cloak fell off

Which Lion vile with bloody mouth did stain.

And the evil Lion chewed on it with an already bloody mouth.

Anon comes Pyramus, sweet youth and tall,

Quickly after came Pyramus, a tall and handsome youth,

And finds his trusty Thisby's mantle slain:

Who saw Thisby’s cloak bloodied,

Whereat, with blade, with bloody blameful blade,

And, with his bloody, angry sword,

He bravely broach'd is boiling bloody breast;

He bravely thrust it into his chest.

And Thisby, tarrying in mulberry shade,

Thisby, hiding in the shade of a mulberry tree

His dagger drew, and died. For all the rest,

Saw this and took Pyramus’ dagger, and kill herself. For the rest of the story

Let Lion, Moonshine, Wall, and lovers twain

I will let Lion, Moonshine, Wall, and the two lovers

At large discourse, while here they do remain.

Speak about it, since they are right here.

Exeunt Prologue, Thisbe, Lion, and Moonshine

THESEUS

I wonder if the lion be to speak.

I wonder if the lion will speak.

DEMETRIUS

No wonder, my lord: one lion may, when many asses do.

Why not? Why shouldn’t one lion speak when these donkeys have already.

Wall

In this same interlude it doth befall

At this time, it is worth repeating

That I, one Snout by name, present a wall;

That I am playing a wall (my real name is Snout).

And such a wall, as I would have you think,

The wall I am portraying, please believe,

That had in it a crannied hole or chink,

Has a hole in it

Through which the lovers, Pyramus and Thisby,

That the lovers Pyramus and Thisby

Did whisper often very secretly.

Whisper through secretly.

This loam, this rough-cast and this stone doth show

This stone and gravel all around me should make it clear

That I am that same wall; the truth is so:

That I am that wall, and truly,

And this the cranny is, right and sinister,

The hole is right here, each side of it,

Through which the fearful lovers are to whisper.

And through it the lovers will whisper.

THESEUS

Would you desire lime and hair to speak better?

Can cement ever speak better?

DEMETRIUS

It is the wittiest partition that ever I heard

It is the smartest room divider that I have ever heard

discourse, my lord.

converse, my lord.

Enter Pyramus

THESEUS

Pyramus draws near the wall: silence!

Pyramus is going near the wall, be quiet!

Pyramus

O grim-look'd night! O night with hue so black!

Oh night that looks so grim and black!

O night, which ever art when day is not!

Oh night, which is always there when the day is not!

O night, O night! alack, alack, alack,

Oh night, oh night! I am so sad, so sad,

I fear my Thisby's promise is forgot!

Because I am afraid Thisby forgot her promise!

And thou, O wall, O sweet, O lovely wall,

And you, oh sweet and wonderful wall,

That stand'st between her father's ground and mine!

You stand between her father’s property and mine!

Thou wall, O wall, O sweet and lovely wall,

You, sweet and wonderful wall, dear wall,

Show me thy chink, to blink through with mine eyne!

Show me the hole that I can look through with my eye!

Wall holds up his fingers

Thanks, courteous wall: Jove shield thee well for this!

Thank you, kind wall. God protect you for this!

But what see I? No Thisby do I see.

But what do I see? Not Thisby.

O wicked wall, through whom I see no bliss!

Oh evil wall, I cannot see my happiness through you!

Cursed be thy stones for thus deceiving me!

Damn your stones for tricking me!

THESEUS

The wall, methinks, being sensible, should curse again.

Since it is a speaking wall, it should reply to Pyramus with a curse.

Pyramus

No, in truth, sir, he should not. 'Deceiving me'

Not really, my lord, he shouldn’t because “Deceiving me”

is Thisby's cue: she is to enter now, and I am to