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All Site ContentMidsummer Night's DreamAct 5Scene 1
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Theseus, Lines 90-106
Performance Videos
Act 5,
Scene 1
Lines 90-106

A performance of lines 90-106 by Theseus in Act 5, Scene 1 of myShakspeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream.

myShakespeare | Midsummer Night's Dream 5.1 Performance: Theseus Lines 90-106

Theseus

The kinder we to give them thanks for nothing.
Our sport shall be to take what they mistake
And what poor duty cannot do.
Noble respect takes it in might, not merit.
Where I have come, great clerks have purposèd
To greet me with premeditated welcomes,
Where I have seen them shiver and look pale,
Make periods in the midst of sentences,
Throttle their practiced accent in their fears,
And in conclusion, dumbly have broke off,
Not paying me a welcome. Trust me, sweet,
Out of this silence yet I picked a welcome,
And in the modesty of fearful duty
I read as much as from the rattling tongue
Of saucy and audacious eloquence.
Love, therefore, and tongue-tied simplicity
In least speak most to my capacity.