#InkyCloak a new #SlowShakespeare daily blog reading HAMLET starts tomorrow, 1 October 2024. It follows continuously on my #SlowShakespeare site from my two previous blogs, #2Dudes1Dog and #BurningBarge. Posts go up around 9am every day, and are tweeted on what I still refer to as twitter (@starcrossed2018) and also posted on Bluesy (@starcrossed2018.bsky.social) although there […]

VALENTINE What think you of this page, my lord? DUKE I think the boy hath grace in him – he blushes. VALENTINE I warrant you, my lord, more grace than boy. DUKE What mean you by that saying? VALENTINE Please you, I’ll tell you as we pass along, That you will wonder what hath fortuned. […]

DUKE  Thou hast prevailed. I pardon them and thee. Dispose of them as thou know’st their deserts. Come, let us go, we will conclude all jars With triumphs, mirth, and rare solemnity. VALENTINE    And as we walk along I dare be bold With our discourse to make your grace to smile.  (5.4.156-161) Oooooh, alright then, […]

VALENTINE    I thank your grace. The gift hath made me happy. I now beseech you, for your daughter’s sake, To grant one boon that I shall ask of you. DUKE  I grant it for thine own, whate’er it be. VALENTINE    These banished men that I have kept withal Are men endowed with worthy qualities. Forgive […]

DUKE  The more degenerate and base art thou To make such means for her as thou hast done, And leave her on such slight conditions. Now, by the honour of my ancestry, I do applaud thy spirit, Valentine, And think thee worthy of an empress’ love. Know then I here forget all former griefs, Cancel […]

THURIO          Yonder is Silvia, and Silvia’s mine. VALENTINE    Thurio, give back, or else embrace thy death. Come not within the measure of my wrath. Do not name Silvia thine. If once again, Verona shall not hold thee. Here she stands. Take but possession of her with a touch – I dare thee but to breathe […]

VALENTINE    Come, come. A hand from either. Let me be blessed to make this happy close. ’Twere pity two such friends should be long foes. PROTEUS       Bear witness, heaven, I have my wish for ever. JULIA  And I mine. [Enter Outlaws, with the Duke and Thurio as prisoners] OUTLAWS      A prize, a prize, a prize! […]

JULIA  It is the lesser blot, modesty finds, Women to change their shapes than men their minds. PROTEUS       Than men their minds? ’Tis true. O heaven, were man But constant, he were perfect. That one error Fills him with faults, makes him run through all th’ sins; Inconstancy falls off ere it begins. What is […]

JULIA  And Julia herself did give it me, And Julia herself hath brought it hither. [Julia reveals herself] PROTEUS       How? Julia? JULIA Behold her that gave aim to all thy oaths And entertained ’em deeply in her heart. How oft hast thou with perjury cleft the root? O Proteus, let this habit make thee blush. […]

PROTEUS       Look to the boy! VALENTINE                Why, boy? Why, wag, how now? What’s the matter? Look up. Speak. JULIA              O good sir, my master charged me to deliver a ring to Madam Silvia, which out of my neglect was never done. PROTEUS Where is that ring, boy? JULIA [giving a ring] Here ’tis. This is it. PROTEUS […]