Folio Comparision: Act I, Scene 3 Main Menu - HomePage - The Play - Folio Comparisons
Enter DUKE and FRIAR THOMAS    DUKE.  No; holy father, throw away that thought; Believe not that the dribbling dart of love Can pierce a complete bosom. Why I desire thee To give me secret harbour, hath a purpose More grave and wrinkled than the aims and ends Of burning youth.      FRIAR THOMAS.  May your Grace speak of it?      DUKE.  My holy sir, none better knows than you How I have ever loved the life removed, And held in idle price to haunt assemblies Where youth, and cost, witless bravery keeps. I have deliver'd to Lord Angelo (A man of stricture and firm abstinence) My absolute power and place here in Vienna, And he supposes me travell'd to Poland (For so I have strew'd it in the common ear, And so it is receiv'd). Now, pious sir, You will demand of me why I do this.
The Duke begins the scene with an emphatic "no." This suggests that the conversation begins in midstream. Where are the Duke and Friar Thomas conversing and what have they already discussed? This is a fairly regular occurrence in the works of Shakespeare -- the picking up of a scene in mid-action. Again, no hint to staging is provided in the Folio. Where is this scene occurring and what are the two men doing?
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