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When King Lear dies in Act V, do you know what Shakespeare has written? Heβs written βHe dies.β Thatβs all, nothing more. No fanfare, no metaphor, no brilliant final words. The culmination of the most influential work of dramatic literature is βHe dies.β It takes Shakespeare, a genius, to come up with βHe dies.β And yet every time I read those two words, I find myself overwhelmed with dysphoria. And I know itβs only natural to be sad, but not because of the words βHe dies,β but because of the life we saw prior to the words. Iβve lived all five of my acts, Mahoney, and I am not asking you to be happy that I must go. Iβm only asking that you turn the page, continue readingβ¦ and let the next story begin. And if anyone asks what became of me, you relate my life in all its wonder, and end it with a simple and modest βHe died.
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