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HERAKLES: Lissen:
you hear that wine purling and gurgling in the cup?
Well, a swallow of this will do wonders, friend,
for whatever’s ailing you.
I mean, we all gotta die. Right?
Well, that’s why we all gotta think human thoughts,
and live while we can.
Eat, drink, and be merry.
Take it from me,
the way those gloomy, bellyachin’ tragedians gripe,
life isn’t life at all, it’s just a goddam
funeral.

Explanation and Analysis:

This quote takes place during Alcestis’s funeral. Herakles, admitted as a guest in Admetos’s palace, has been drunkenly storming around the house, ordering the servants around and generally making a nuisance of himself. Here, he makes a tipsy ...

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Original

Romeo

(aside) She speaks.
O, speak again, bright angel! For thou art
As glorious to this night, being o’er my head,
As is a winged messenger of heaven
Unto the white, upturnèd, wondering eyes
Of mortals that fall back to gaze on him
When he bestrides the lazy-puffing clouds
And sails upon the bosom of the air.

Juliet

O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art though Romeo?
Deny they father and refuse they name.
Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,
And I’ll no longer be a Capulet.

Modern

Romeo

(to himself) She speaks. Speak again, bright angel! For tonight you are as glorious, there up above me, as a winged messenger of heaven who makes mortals fall onto their backs to gaze up with awestruck eyes as he strides across the lazy clouds and sails through the air.

Juliet

O Romeo, Romeo! Why must you be Romeo? Deny your father and give up your name. Or, if you won’t change your name, just swear your love to me and I’ll give up being a Capulet.

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