Lucien Enjolras

"King Hamlet was a warlike king," says Laertes, "and more than that, his wars were meant to swell Denmark's territories, and to end rebellions. Dost thou see how such a project pits a king against his people? He must always see them as both subjects and foes, and any act that he did not authorize must thus be answered as an uprising. If thou hast read Machiavelli, thou wilt recognize his type--a man who preferred to be feared rather than to be loved.

"But it does not end there," continues Laertes, and his voice is beginning to shake. "If thy subjects must always be treated as foes in waiting, then it is the duty of those with subtler craft to find out where rebellion lurks ere it can be fanned to a blaze. It is their duty to descry every secret, and thus they must listen at every arras, spy through every peephole, read every missive passed between friends--for in any of those, the spark of rebellion may be burning. Or perhaps not even rebellion! Perhaps only imperfection. Perhaps only thought that there might be a fucking place on Earth where the world might be different, and better--because the thought that things might be better is in fact the seed and fount of rebellion--"