A scene that is oft removed from school texts in "The Scottish Play" ("MacBeth" to you non-thespians) is Scene III Act II
MACDUFF
What three things does drink especially provoke?
Porter
Marry, sir, nose-painting, sleep, and
urine. Lechery, sir, it provokes, and unprovokes;
it provokes the desire, but it takes
away the performance: therefore, much drink
may be said to be an equivocator with lechery:
it makes him, and it mars him; it sets
him on, and it takes him off; it persuades him,
and disheartens him; makes him stand to, and
not stand to; in conclusion, equivocates him
in a sleep, and, giving him the lie, leaves him.
Or to paraphrase:
Drink!
*forms a fighting stance*
It causes a man to rise up!
*waves dismissively at nether regions*
And it causes a man not to rise up.
The paraphrasing is not mine. It was from a presentation by an actor explaining how Shakespearean works are quite funny when performed properly. He did a great bit on Poe as well. |
