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Friday, February 27, 2009

Double Double Toil and Trouble

If you're familiar with the wordings of this post, well, Congratulations - you must either have watched the movie (starring the Olson twins) or you are just a Shakesperean fan. Where do I stand? Both .. I have watched the movie although it wa ages ago and I do love Shakespeare ( umm ... Thanks Dr. Aleya for the B+). Of all the plays he's written, I've studied a few in detail:

1. Macbeth
2. Hamlet
3. The Merchant of Venice
4. Henry V
5. Romeo and Juliet
6. Othello
7. Twelfth Night
8. Antony and Cleopatra

As you known or might have known, Shakesperean plays are divided into three categories; comedy, history and tragedy. The classification of these plays are quite straight forward to what the meaning entails:

Comedy ( har har har )
History ( kings, kings and more kings )
Tragedy ( till death do us part )

Back to the original topic, Macbeth. Well, Macbeth was the first Shakespearean play I studies during my university days. It was my first real encounter with Shakespeare. Phew ... it was hard that time but as time went by, we kinda got used to it and Shakespeare was no alien to us then.

Of course, Macbeth can best be categorised as a tragic play. Someone dies in the end. Not gonna ruin the story for you. You can read it and it's also available in modern English. Makes the reading a whole lot faster and easier.

My favorite part in Macbeth is definitely Act IV, Scene 1. The brewing of some crazy stuff by the three witches. Enjoy!

A dark Cave. In the middle, a Caldron boiling. Thunder.

Enter the three Witches.

1 WITCH. Thrice the brinded cat hath mew'd.
2 WITCH. Thrice and once, the hedge-pig whin'd.
3 WITCH. Harpier cries:—'tis time! 'tis time!
1 WITCH. Round about the caldron go;
In the poison'd entrails throw.—
Toad, that under cold stone,
Days and nights has thirty-one;
Swelter'd venom sleeping got,
Boil thou first i' the charmed pot!
ALL. Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and caldron bubble.
2 WITCH. Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the caldron boil and bake;
Eye of newt, and toe of frog,
Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,
Adder's fork, and blind-worm's sting,
Lizard's leg, and owlet's wing,—
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.
ALL. Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and caldron bubble.
3 WITCH. Scale of dragon; tooth of wolf;
Witches' mummy; maw and gulf
Of the ravin'd salt-sea shark;
Root of hemlock digg'd i the dark;
Liver of blaspheming Jew;
Gall of goat, and slips of yew
Sliver'd in the moon's eclipse;
Nose of Turk, and Tartar's lips;
Finger of birth-strangled babe
Ditch-deliver'd by a drab,—
Make the gruel thick and slab:
Add thereto a tiger's chaudron,
For the ingrediants of our caldron.
ALL. Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and caldron bubble.
2 WITCH. Cool it with a baboon's blood,
Then the charm is firm and good.

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