 |
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From
the closing scene of Withnail and I.... |
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....and
from Hamlet Act II, Scene II |
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| I have of late, but wherefore I know not, lost all my mirth, forgone all custom of | ||
| exercises, and, indeed, it goes so heavily with my disposition that this goodly frame, the | ||
| earth, seems to me a sterile promontory; this most excellent canopy, the air, look you, this | ||
| brave o'erhanging firmament, this majestical roof, fretted with golden fire—why, it | ||
| appeareth nothing to me but a foul and pestilent congregation of vapours. What ‹a› piece | ||
| of work is a man, how noble in reason, how infinite in faculties, in form and moving how | ||
| express and admirable; in action how like an angel, in apprehension how like a god: the | ||
| beauty of the world, the paragon of animals—and yet, to me, what is this quintessence of | ||
| dust? Man delights not me, ‹no,› nor women neither, though by your smiling you seem to | ||
| say so. | ||
| Courtesy of the Folger edition. | ||
Withnail
and I (1987) |
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Hamlet's
first performance (1600 or 1601) |
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In
tribute to Uncle Monty (Richard Griffith) who died on Thursday (28th March 2013). And to Withnail, Marwood and to Shakespeare. |
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