QUOTES BY TOPIC

QUOTES FROM THE BARD

All the regions do smilingly revolt

PLAY: Coriolanus ACT/SCENE: 4.6 SPEAKER: Cominus CONTEXT: COMINIUS
Ay; and you’ll look pale
Before you find it other. All the regions
Do smilingly revolt; and who resist
Are mock’d for valiant ignorance,
And perish constant fools. Who is’t can blame him?
Your enemies and his find something in him.
MENENIUS
We are all undone, unless
The noble man have mercy.
COMINIUS
Who shall ask it?
The tribunes cannot do’t for shame; the people
Deserve such pity of him as the wolf
Does of the shepherds: for his best friends, if they
Should say ‘Be good to Rome,’ they charged him even
As those should do that had deserved his hate,
And therein show’d like enemies. DUTCH: Ja wis; gij zult verbleeken;
Maar ‘t anders vinden, — neen. Elk wingewest
Valt lachend af; en elk, die weerstand biedt,
Wordt om zijn dapp’re domheid fel bespot,
En sterft als trouwe nar. MORE: Pale=White with fear
Smilingly=Happily, willingly
Undone=Ruined
Compleat:
Pale=Bleek, doodsch
Smiling=Grimlaching, toelaching, smyling, smylende
Undone=Ontdaan, losgemaakt Topics: appearance, courage, blame, mercy

Categories: appearance, blame, Coriolanus, mercy|

He hath resisted law, and therefore law shall scorn him further trial than the severity of the public power which he so sets at naught

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: Sicinius
CONTEXT:
SICINIUS
Where is this viper
That would depopulate the city and
Be every man himself?
MENENIUS
You worthy tribunes,—
SICINIUS
He shall be thrown down the Tarpeian rock
With rigorous hands: he hath resisted law,
And therefore law shall scorn him further trial
Than the severity of the public power
Which he so sets at naught.
FIRST CITIZEN
He shall well know
The noble tribunes are the people’s mouths,
And we their hands.

DUTCH:
Hij heeft de wet getrotst;
Wat zou de wet dan meer getuig’nis eischen ?
Hem richte heel de strengheid van de macht,
Die hij zoo nietig acht.

MORE:
Cited in Shakespeare’s Legal Maxims (William Lowes Rushton)

Sets at=Values. Sets at naught=Considers worthless.
Tarpeian rock=Murderers and traitors were thrown off this rock in Rome
Scorn=To disdain, to refuse or lay aside with contempt
Severity=Strength
Compleat:
To scorn=Verachten, verfooijen

Topics: law/legal, justice, mercy

Categories: Coriolanus, law/legal, mercy|

Or I shall show the cinders of my spirit through th’ ashes of my chance

PLAY: Antony and Cleopatra
ACT/SCENE: 5.2
SPEAKER: Cleopatra
CONTEXT:
CLEOPATRA
O Caesar, what a wounding shame is this,
That thou, vouchsafing here to visit me,
Doing the honour of thy lordliness
To one so meek, that mine own servant should
Parcel the sum of my disgraces by
Addition of his envy! Say, good Caesar,
That I some lady trifles have reserved,
Immoment toys, things of such dignity
As we greet modern friends withal, and say
Some nobler token I have kept apart
For Livia and Octavia, to induce
Their mediation, must I be unfolded
With one that I have bred? The gods! It smites me
Beneath the fall I have. Prithee, go hence,
Or I shall show the cinders of my spirit
Through th’ ashes of my chance. Wert thou a man,
Thou wouldst have mercy on me.

DUTCH:
k Bid u, weg;
Of de oude gloed mijns geestes vlamt nog eens
Uit de asch mijns onheils op! waart gij een man,
Gij hadt erbarmen met mij.

MORE:
Vouchsafe=Deign, condescend
Parcel=Enumerate, specify; add to
Envy=Malice
Lady=Feminine
Immoment=Worthless, insignificant
Modern=Ordinary
Nobler=More valuable
Unfolded with=Exposed by
Cinders=Burning coals
Compleat:
To vouchsafe=Gewaardigen, vergunnen
To parcel=In hoopen verdeelen, in partyen deelen
Envy=Nyd, afgunst
Moment=gewicht, belang. Of great moment=Van groot gewicht.
Modern=Hedendaags
Noble=Edel, adelyk
Unfold=Ontvouwen, open leggen
Cinders=Uytgebrande smitskoolen, koolassche

Topics: fate/destiny, independence, mercy

Categories: Antony and Cleopatra, fate/destiny, mercy|

My brother killed no man; his fault was thought, and yet his punishment was bitter death

PLAY: Richard III
ACT/SCENE: 2.1
SPEAKER: Richard, Duke of Gloucester
CONTEXT:
KING EDWARD
Have I a tongue to doom my brother’s death,
And shall the tongue give pardon to a slave?
My brother killed no man; his fault was thought,
And yet his punishment was bitter death.
Who sued to me for him? Who, in my wrath,
Kneeled at my feet, and bade me be advised?
Who spoke of brotherhood? Who spoke of love?
Who told me how the poor soul did forsake
The mighty Warwick and did fight for me?
Who told me, in the field by Tewkesbury,
When Oxford had me down, he rescued me,
And said “Dear brother, live, and be a king?”
Who told me, when we both lay in the field
Frozen almost to death, how he did lap me
Even in his garments and did give himself,
All thin and naked, to the numb-cold night?
All this from my remembrance brutish wrath
Sinfully plucked, and not a man of you
Had so much grace to put it in my mind.
But when your carters or your waiting vassals
Have done a drunken slaughter and defaced
The precious image of our dear Redeemer,
You straight are on your knees for pardon, pardon,
And I, unjustly too, must grant it you. (…)

DUTCH:
Mijn broeder deed geen doodslag; in gedachte
Bestond zijn schuld; toch leed hij bitt’ren dood.

MORE:
Proverb: Thought is free

Doom=Judge
Lap=Wrap
Vassals=Servants
Compleat:
Doom=Vonnis, oordeel, verwyzing
A heavy doom=een zwaar vonnis
To doom=Veroordelen, verwyzen, doemen
To lap up=Bewinden

Topics: proverbs and idioms, judgment, punishment, mercy

Categories: mercy, proverbs and idioms, punishment, Richard III|

As ending anthem of my endless dolour

PLAY: The Two Gentlemen of Verona
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: Proteus
CONTEXT:
PROTEUS
Ay, ay; and she hath offered to the doom—
Which, unreversed, stands in effectual force—
A sea of melting pearl, which some call tears:
Those at her father’s churlish feet she tendered;
With them, upon her knees, her humble self;
Wringing her hands, whose whiteness so became them
As if but now they waxed pale for woe:
But neither bended knees, pure hands held up,
Sad sighs, deep groans, nor silver-shedding tears,
Could penetrate her uncompassionate sire;
But Valentine, if he be ta’en, must die.
Besides, her intercession chafed him so,
When she for thy repeal was suppliant,
That to close prison he commanded her,
With many bitter threats of biding there.
VALENTINE
No more; unless the next word that thou speak’st
Have some malignant power upon my life:
If so, I pray thee, breathe it in mine ear,
As ending anthem of my endless dolour.

DUTCH:
En dan, haar voorspraak heeft hem zoo vergramd,
Toen ze om herroeping van het vonnis smeekte,
Dat hij beval, zeer nauw haar op te sluiten,
Met scherpe dreiging, zoo ze ontsnapping waagt.

MORE:
Doom=Judgment
Offered=Sacrificed, dedicated
Effectual=Operative
Tendered=Offered
Waxed=Became
Penetrate=Reach the heart of
Chafed=Irritated, angered
Thy repeal=Repeal of your sentence
Biding=Staying permanently
Ending anthem=Requiem
Dolour=Sadness
Compleat:
Doom=Vonnis, oordeel, verwyzing
Effectual=Krachtig, uitwerkelyk
To tender=Aanbieden, van harte bezinnen, behartigen
To wax (grow)=Worden
To penetrate=Doordringen, doorgronden, doorbooren
To chafe=Verhitten, tot toorn ontsteeken, verhit zyn van gramschap, woeden
Repeal=Een herroeping, afschaffing, intrekking
Dolor=Droefheid, smarte

Topics: judgment, punishment, mercy

Categories: judgment, mercy, The Two Gentlemen of Verona|

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