| «But woe to the riches and skill thus obtained
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| Woe to the wretch that would injure the dead
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| And woe go his portion whose fingers are stained
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| With the red drops of life that he cruelly shed» — Ballad of William Burke
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| circa 1829
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| «the receiver of these sixteen strangled bodies been punishable as well as the
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| murderer, the crimes, which have cast a stain on the character of the nation
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| and of human nature, would not have been committed» — Thomas Wakely The
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| Lancet newspaper 21s t March, 1829
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| Dr. Knox: What is a man? |
| Is he the sum of his beliefs?
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| Or is he measured by the depths of his misdeeds?
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| Is he but flesh and bone? |
| The sum of component parts?
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| Is he what he has wrought? |
| Or what he has torn apart?
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| Hare: Our abhorrent enterprise, so deeply despised
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| But evidence, I’ll provide, to spare my own hide
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| Hare: I'll send Burke to his grave
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| To be betrayed by incarnadined hands
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| Dr. Knox: Am I a butcher uncouth?
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| The telltale truth are these incarnadined hands
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| Dr. Knox: Am I a slaughterer or a surgeon? |
| A taker or giver of life?
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| Hare: A thief or a murderer? |
| For which crime am I to be tried?
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| Dr. Knox: So many I’ve anatomized, truly I was desensitized I never failed to
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| edify, Hare: nor to brutalize
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| Dr. Knox: The stain of the grave
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| I am betrayed by incarnadined hands
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| Burke: The meager length of the noose
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| The punishment due for incarnadined hands
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| Dr. Knox: Please tell me who I am — Please tell me who I am!
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| Solo — Michael Burke
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| Dr. Knox: What is a man? |
| Is he the end or is he the means?
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| Burke: For lucre’s gleam, undertaking hideous misdeeds
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| Dr. Knox: I once thought I knew, but now I see it true
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| When you look into death, it looks back into you
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| Dr. Knox: The stain of the grave
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| I am betrayed by incarnadined hands
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| Burke: The meager length of the noose
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| The punishment due for incarnadined hands
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| Dr. Knox / Hare: Please tell me who I am |