- |#Shakespearesaysitbetter
- |#Shakespearesaysitbetter
- abuse
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- proverbs and idioms
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- time
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QUOTES FROM THE BARD
Do thou amend thy face, and I’ll amend my life.
Why, you are so fat, Sir John, that you must needs be out of all compass, out of all reasonable compass, Sir John.
FALSTAFF
Do thou amend thy face, and I’ll amend my life. Thou art our admiral, thou bearest the lantern in the poop, but ’tis in the nose of thee. Thou art the knight of the burning lamp. DUTCH: Verbeter gij uw gezicht, en ik wil mijn leven beteren. MORE: Schmidt:
Compass=Extent in general, limit (“lived well and in good c.; and now I live out of all c.”)
Poop=The hindmost part of a ship.
Compleat:
To keep within compass=Iemand in den band (in bedwang) houden
To keep within compass=Zynen plicht betrachten
To draw a thing within a narrow compass=Iets in een klein begrip besluiten Topics: insult, appearance, excess
It lends a luster and more great opinion, A larger dare, to our great enterprise.
PLAY: King Henry IV Part 1
ACT/SCENE: 4.1
SPEAKER: Hotspur
CONTEXT:
You strain too far.
I rather of his absence make this use:
It lends a luster and more great opinion,
A larger dare, to our great enterprise
Than if the Earl were here, for men must think
If we without his help can make a head
To push against a kingdom, with his help
We shall o’erturn it topsy-turvy down.
Yet all goes well, yet all our joints are whole.
DUTCH:
Gij gaat te ver;
Ik zie voor ons eer voordeel in zijn afzijn:
‘t Leent hoog’ren luister en een groot’ren roem
En meerdre koenheid aan ons groote werk,
Dan zoo de graaf hier was.
MORE:
Schmidt:
Strain=Effort of thought (as if by violent stretching of the mind); to extend, to stretch (you go too far in your apprehensions).
Lustre=Brightness, splendour
Dare=Boldness
Topics: plans/intentions, ambition, hope/optimism, reputation, perception
To the latter end of a fray and the beginning of a feast Fits a dull fighter and a keen guest.
PLAY: King Henry IV Part 1
ACT/SCENE: 4.2
SPEAKER: Falstaff
CONTEXT:
WESTMORELAND
He is, Sir John. I fear we shall stay too long.
FALSTAFF
Well,
To the latter end of a fray and the beginning of a feast
Fits a dull fighter and a keen guest.
DUTCH:
Nu goed.
Het laatst in ‘t veld, en de eersten bij een feest,
Lijkt tragen vechters, gragen gasten ‘t meest.
MORE:
Heywood proverbs (1546):
“And it is ill coming, I have heard say,
To th’ end of a shot and beginning of a fray.”
A hungry guest will come early for a meal, a reluctant soldier will arrive late in the battle..
Topics: proverbs and idioms, time
If sack and sugar be a fault, God help the wicked.
PLAY: King Henry IV Part 1
ACT/SCENE: 2.5
SPEAKER: Falstaff
CONTEXT:
But to say I know more harm in him than in myself were to say more than I know. That he is old, the more the pity, his white hairs do witness it. But that he is, saving your reverence, a whoremaster, that I utterly deny. If sack and sugar be a fault, God help the wicked. If to be old and merry be a sin, then many an old host that I know is damned. If to be fat be to be hated, then Pharaoh’s lean kine are to be loved. No, my good lord, banish Peto, banish Bardolph, banish Poins, but for sweet Jack Falstaff, kind Jack Falstaff, true Jack Falstaff, valiant Jack Falstaff, and therefore more valiant being, as he is, old Jack Falstaff,
Banish not him thy Harry’s company,
Banish not him thy Harry’s company.
Banish plump Jack, and banish all the world.
DUTCH:
Als sek met suiker boos is, dan sta God de zondaars bij! Als oud en vroolijk zijn zonde is, dan is menig oude waard, dien ik ken, verdoemd; als vet te zijn hatenswaardig is, dan zijn Pharao’s magere koeien beminnelijk.
MORE:
Schmidt:
Sack=The generic name of Spanish and Canary wines
Kine=Cow (Pharaoh’s lean kine: a sign that times of starvation are ahead (Genesis 41))
Host=Innkeeper
Saving your reverence=With respect (used before an impolite remark)
Compleat:
Kine=Koeien
Sack=Sek, een soort van sterke wyn
Host=een Waerd, herbergier
Burgersdijk:
In de wijnhuizen kregen de gasten hij den wijn een zakjen suiker. Men mag er uit vermoeden, dat of de wijn of die hem dronk vaak niet al te best van smaak was.
Topics: life, age/experience, excess, offence
What is honour? A word. What is in that word “honour”?
PLAY: King Henry IV Part 1
ACT/SCENE: 5.1
SPEAKER: Falstaff
CONTEXT:
PRINCE HENRY
Why, thou owest God a death.
Tis not due yet. I would be loath to pay Him before His day. What need I be so forward with Him that calls not on me? Well, ’tis no matter. Honour pricks me on. Yea, but how if honour prick me off when I come on? How then? Can honor set to a leg? no. Or an arm? no. Or take away the grief of a wound? No. Honour hath no skill in surgery, then? No. What is honour? A word. What is in that word “honour”? What is that “honour”? Air. A trim reckoning. Who hath it? He that died o’ Wednesday. Doth he feel it? No. Doth he hear it? No. ‘Tis insensible, then? Yea, to the dead. But will it not live with the living? No. Why? Detraction will not suffer it. Therefore, I’ll none of it. Honour is a mere scutcheon. And so ends my catechism.
DUTCH:
Wat is eer? Een woord. Wat is het woord eer? Lucht. De rekening sluit! — Wie Iieeft haar? Die woensdag gestorven is. Voelt hij ze? Neen. Hoort hij ze? Neen. Is ze dus niet waar te nemen? Neen, door de dooden niet. Maar leeft ze dan nooit bij de levenden? Neen. Waarom niet? De afgunst duldt dit niet.
MORE:
Death. Debt. The word-play on “death” and “debt” occurs as early as 1400.
Onions:
Prick on=Encourage, incite
Prick off=to mark or indicate by a ‘prick’ or tick, mark or tick off
Set to a leg=Restore a leg cut off
Insensible=Not to be apprehended by the senses
Scutcheon=A shield with armorial ensigns. Scutcheon is the lowest description of heraldic ensign used for funerals.
Compleat:
Scutcheon=Schild, wapenschild
REFERENCED IN E&W LAW: AM v Local Authority & Anor [2009] EWCA Civ 205 (16 March 2009)
Burgersdijk notes:
De eer is niets dan een wapenschild. Dat bij de begrafenis van een edelman mede rond gedragen wordt, zonder dat de doode er iets aan heeft. — Falstaff noemt, wat hij gezegd heeft, een catechismus, omdat hij in vragen en antwoorden zijn geloofsbelijdenis heeft afgelegd.
Topics: honour, cited in law, skill/talent, life