Wednesday, March 17, 2010

A Take on one of Hamlet's (many) Soliloquies

This was an assignment for English...but I rather liked the way mine turned out. You may recognize it! ;)

To love, or not to love- that is the question:
Whether 'tis more rewarding in life to revel
In the warmth and joy of a lover’s affection
Or to avoid the ever constant dread of heartbreak,
And by never risking, forgo despair. To love- to embrace-
Is bliss; but by maintaining a wary distance, one never risks
The heartache, and the thousand possible wrongs
A lover can commit. 'Tis a circumstance
Devoutly to be feared. To adore- to worship.
To fantasize- perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub!
For in that sleep of dreams what hopes may come
When we have given in to love’s embrace,
Must give us pause. There's the respect
That makes tragedy of loving too hard.
For who would bear the agony and anxiety of distance,
The misogynists scorn, the proud man's arrogance,
The blow of unrequited affection, the law's delay,
The unbearable pain of having heart parted from breast,
And thrown mercilessly to the floor, disregarded,
When she herself might never endure this torture by caring
With strictly cold passion? Yet; Who would not these perils endure,
To try patience with waiting for returned devotion,
But for that wonder and heavenly elation of love-
The divine mountain’s peak, from whose summit
No adventurer returns untouched,
And makes us rather bear those evils we flee
Than journey not into passion’s flame?
Thus fear of blazing out does make cowards of us all,
And thus the inherent light of ardor,
Is sicklied o'er with the grim shadow of doubt,
And makes three simple words so hard to say first
With regard to the chance they are turned awry.
So we fall, and break, and fall again,
Until we are caught. And this, the glowing dream,
We risk heart, soul, and existence for;
That we may one day by chance tumble into the arms
Of love that proves enduring, wondrous, encompasses all,
And that disproves all those who do not dare to dream.
Shall I take the leap?

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