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Theseus, Lines 65-78
Context and Language Videos
Act 1,
Scene 1
Lines 65-78

A performance of lines 65-78 by Theseus in Act 1, Scene 1 of myShakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Theseus

Either to die the death or to abjure
For ever the society of men.
Therefore, fair Hermia, question your desires,
Know of your youth, examine well your blood;
Whether, if you yield not to your father's choice,
You can endure the livery of a nun,
For aye to be in shady cloister mewed,
To live a barren sister all your life,
Chanting faint hymns to the cold fruitless moon.
Thrice blessed they that master so their blood,
To undergo such maiden pilgrimage;
But earthlier happy is the rose distilled
Than that which, withering on the virgin thorn,
Grows, lives, and dies in single blessedness.