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QUOTES FROM THE BARD

For where an unclean mind carries virtuous qualities, there commendations go with pity

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 1.1
SPEAKER: Countess
CONTEXT:
LAFEW
I would it were not notorious. Was this gentlewoman
the daughter of Gerard de Narbon?
COUNTESS
His sole child, my lord, and bequeathed to my
overlooking. I have those hopes of her good that
her education promises; her dispositions she
inherits, which makes fair gifts fairer; for where
an unclean mind carries virtuous qualities, there
commendations go with pity; they are virtues and
traitors too; in her they are the better for their
simpleness; she derives her honesty and achieves her
goodness.
LAFEW
Your commendations, madam, get from her tears.
COUNTESS
‘Tis the best brine a maiden can season her praise
in. The remembrance of her father never approaches
her heart but the tyranny of her sorrows takes all
livelihood from her cheek. No more of this, Helen;
go to, no more; lest it be rather thought you affect
a sorrow than have it.

DUTCH:
Ik heb alle verwachting van het goede, dat hare opvoeding belooft; de natuur, die zij geërfd heeft, maakt de schoone gaven, die opvoeding schenkt, nog schooner;

MORE:
Proverb: Blood is inherited but virtue is achieved

Overlooking=Guardianship
Fated=Fateful (see also King Lear “The plagues that hang fated over men’s faults”, 3.2)
Go with pity=Accompanied by regret
Simpleness=Plainness (being unmixed), unrefined nativeness, innocence
Unclean=(in a moral sense) Impure
Derive=Inherit
Compleat:
Disposition (or Inclination)=Genegenheid, Lust
Disposition of mind=Gesteltenis van gemoed
Simple=Onbeschadigend, eenvoudig
Fated=Door ‘t noodlot beschooren

Topics: nature, learning/education, virtue, innocence, fate/destiny, proverbs and idioms

Categories: All's Well That Ends Well, fate/destiny, innocence, nature, virtue|

Some innocents ’scape not the thunderbolt

PLAY: Antony and Cleopatra
ACT/SCENE: 2.5
SPEAKER: Charmian
CONTEXT:
CHARMIAN
Good madam, keep yourself within yourself.
The man is innocent.
CLEOPATRA
Some innocents ’scape not the thunderbolt.
Melt Egypt into Nile, and kindly creatures
Turn all to serpents. Call the slave again.
Though I am mad, I will not bite him. Call!
CHARMIAN
He is afeard to come.
CLEOPATRA
I will not hurt him.
These hands do lack nobility that they strike
A meaner than myself, since I myself
Have given myself the cause.
Come hither, sir.
Though it be honest, it is never good
To bring bad news. Give to a gracious message
An host of tongues, but let ill tidings tell
Themselves when they be felt

DUTCH:
De bliksem treft wel vaak een schuld’loos kind!

MORE:
Keep yourself within yourself=Restrain yourself
Kindly=Good-natured
Meaner=Of lower rank
Compleat:
Kindly=Op een vrindlyke wyze; vrindelyk
The meaner sort of people=Het gemeene slach van volk

Topics: innocence

Categories: Antony and Cleopatra, innocence|

If any man doubt that, let him put me to my purgation

PLAY: As You Like It
ACT/SCENE: 5.4
SPEAKER: Touchstone
CONTEXT:
JAQUES
Good my lord, bid him welcome. This is the
motley-minded gentleman that I have so often met in the
forest. He hath been a courtier, he swears.
TOUCHSTONE
If any man doubt that, let him put me to my purgation.
I have trod a measure. I have flattered a lady. I have
been politic with my friend, smooth with mine enemy. I
have undone three tailors. I have had four quarrels, and
like to have fought one.
JAQUES
And how was that ta’en up?
TOUCHSTONE
Faith, we met and found the quarrel was upon the
seventh cause.
JAQUES
How “seventh cause?”—Good my lord, like this fellow.

DUTCH:
Als iemand dit in twijfel trekt, laat hem een gerechtelijken
zuiveringseed van mij vergen

MORE:
Motley-minded=As confused as the jester’s costume
Purgation=Clearing from imputation of guilt, exculpation. Used in theology (Purgatory and declaration of innocence oath) and as a legal term of proving of innocence
Trod a measure=Taken part in a dance
Politic=Diplomatic
Undone=Ruined, bankrupted
Quarrels=Serious disputes
Like=Came near to
Compleat:
Motley=Een grove gemengelde
Purgation (the clearing one’s self of a crime)=Zuivering van een misdaad
Measure (music)=Zang-maat. To beat the measure=De maat slaan
Politick (or cunning)=Slim, schrander, doorsleepen
Undone=Ontdaan, losgemaakt

Topics: order/society, status, innocence, dispute

Categories: As You Like It, dispute, innocence, order/society|

Alas, sir, how fell you besides your five wits?

PLAY: Twelfth Night
ACT/SCENE: 4.2
SPEAKER: Malvolio
CONTEXT:
FOOL
Master Malvolio?
MALVOLIO
Ay, good fool.
FOOL
Alas, sir, how fell you besides your five wits?
MALVOLIO
Fool, there was never a man so notoriously abused: I
am as well in my wits, Fool, as thou art.
FOOL
But as well? Then you are mad indeed, if you be no
better in your wits than a fool.
MALVOLIO
They have here propertied me, keep me in darkness, send
ministers to me —asses!—and do all they can to face me
out of my wits.
FOOL
Advise you what you say. The minister is here.
Malvolio, Malvolio, thy wits the
heavens restore! Endeavor thyself to sleep, and leave
thy vain bibble-babble.

DUTCH:
Helaas, heerschap, hoe zijt ge toch uw verstand zoo
kwijt geraakt?

MORE:
Fall besides=Out of (lose your wits)
Five wits=Shakespeare distinguishes between the five senses (sight, smell, hearing, taste, touch) and the five wits (see Sonnet 141). The five wits are said to be common wit (or common sense), imagination, fancy, estimation and memory.
Propertied=Treated, owned, ordered
Face (out of)=Bully
Out of my wits=Witless
Advise you=Take care
Compleat:
He is beside himself=Hy is buiten verstand
Property=Werktuig
The nature of his employment makes him a property to all the measures of the court=Den aart van zyne bediening maakt hem tot een werktuig in alle de maatregelen van ‘t Hof
To face out or down=(or to outface)=Iemand iets in het gezigt staande houden, of zo lang aanzien dat hy zyn oogen moet neerslaan
He makes me out of my wits=Hy maakt my dol

Topics: madness, punishment, abuse, innocence

Categories: abuse, innocence, madness, Twelfth Night|

Endeavor thyself to sleep, and leave thy vain bibble-babble

PLAY: Twelfth Night
ACT/SCENE: 4.2
SPEAKER: Fool
CONTEXT:
FOOL
Master Malvolio?
MALVOLIO
Ay, good fool.
FOOL
Alas, sir, how fell you besides your five wits?
MALVOLIO
Fool, there was never a man so notoriously abused: I
am as well in my wits, Fool, as thou art.
FOOL
But as well? Then you are mad indeed, if you be no
better in your wits than a fool.
MALVOLIO
They have here propertied me, keep me in darkness, send
ministers to me —asses!—and do all they can to face me
out of my wits.
FOOL
Advise you what you say. The minister is here. [in the
voice of Sir Topas] Malvolio, Malvolio, thy wits the
heavens restore! Endeavor thyself to sleep, and leave
thy vain bibble-babble.

DUTCH:
Tracht eens te slapen en staak uw ijdel geklap!