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The poet has a foot in the mud, an eye on the stars,
and a dagger in his hand
The critic Jan Kott on William Shakespeare
I was
running in the woods. I
was fast and never
looked back. Just
running. But what was I
running away from? It
happened that I was
running away because
behind me was the word
BETRAYAL. The
word was about to reach
me when I heard a
scream. I looked to see
where the scream came
from and discovered
that it was coming from
the word REVENGE.
Immediately, I followed
REVENGE. This
word led me to a place
of big trees. I went
there, and because of
the big trees, I
couldn’t see
anything and got lost.
It was very dark;
perhaps the sun would
never clear the ground
of that place.
Even completely lost, I
kept walking in the
dark woods, hoping to
meet the word LIGHT
and save my life. Some miles later, I saw only a small beam of possible clarity inside the forest. I quickly ran there, and when I arrived, I found that I was on the stage of an amphitheater, surrounded by a man holding a foil. “Wait, wait, wait. I know this man. It’s Laertes!”
Suddenly, he hit me
with his foil. I was
hurt and could feel my
blood growing hot, my
heart beating so
quickly that my
breathing
couldn’t keep up
with its speed. Then I
understood the meaning
of the word BETRAYAL
, the one I had been trying to escape.
Later, I didn’t
feel anything anymore;
my eyes darkened, and
when I opened them, I
could see only the word
INACTION. On the
ground, the Queen and
the King were dead,
Laertes was dying but
forgiven, and Horatio
was near me. Before the
word EXPIRE
embraced me, I said, “O, I die, Horatio; the potent poison quite o’er-crows my spirit. I cannot live to hear the news from
England, but I do
prophesy the election
lights on Fortinbras;
he has my dying voice.
So tell him, with the
occurrents, more and
less, which have
solicited. The rest is
SILENCE.”
END
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