QUOTES FROM THE BARD

She hath despised me rejoicingly, and I’ll be merry in my revenge

PLAY: Cymbeline
ACT/SCENE: 3.5
SPEAKER: Cloten
CONTEXT:
CLOTEN
Meet thee at Milford-Haven!—I forgot to ask him one
thing; I’ll remember’t anon:—even there, thou
villain Posthumus, will I kill thee. I would these
garments were come. She said upon a time—the
bitterness of it I now belch from my heart—that she
held the very garment of Posthumus in more respect
than my noble and natural person together with the
adornment of my qualities. With that suit upon my
back, will I ravish her: first kill him, and in her
eyes; there shall she see my valour, which will then
be a torment to her contempt. He on the ground, my
speech of insultment ended on his dead body, and
when my lust hath dined,—which, as I say, to vex
her I will execute in the clothes that she so
praised,—to the court I’ll knock her back, foot
her home again. She hath despised me rejoicingly,
and I’ll be merry in my revenge.
Be those the garments?

DUTCH:
Zij heeft er genot in gevonden
mij te verachten, en ik wil mij vroolijk maken
door mijn wraak.


MORE:
Were come=Had arrived
Insultment=Contemptuous triumph
Knock=Beat
Foot=Kick
Compleat:
Insultation=Schamperheid
Knock=Slag, klop, klap

Topics: dispute, respect, regret, punishment, insult, revenge

Is’t possible that so short a time can alter the condition of a man!

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 5.4
SPEAKER: Sicinius
CONTEXT:
MENENIUS
See you yond coign o’ the Capitol, yond
corner-stone?
SICINIUS
Why, what of that?
MENENIUS
If it be possible for you to displace it with your
little finger, there is some hope the ladies of
Rome, especially his mother, may prevail with him.
But I say there is no hope in’t: our throats are
sentenced and stay upon execution.
SICINIUS
Is’t possible that so short a time can alter the
condition of a man!
MENENIUS
There is differency between a grub and a butterfly;
yet your butterfly was a grub. This Marcius is grown
from man to dragon: he has wings; he’s more than a
creeping thing.

DUTCH:
Is het mogelijk, dat een zoo korte tijd de geaardheid
van een mensch zoo kan veranderen?

MORE:
Yond=Yonder
Coign=Corner
Stay=Wait
Compleat:
Yonder=Ginder
To stay=Wagten

Topics: time, age/experience, punishment

Categories: , , |

There is no more mercy in him than there is milk in a male tiger

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 5.4
SPEAKER: Menenius
CONTEXT:
SICINIUS
Yes, mercy, if you report him truly.
MENENIUS
I paint him in the character. Mark what mercy his
mother shall bring from him: there is no more mercy
in him than there is milk in a male tiger; that
shall our poor city find: and all this is long of
you.
SICINIUS
The gods be good unto us!
MENENIUS
No, in such a case the gods will not be good unto
us. When we banished him, we respected not them;
and, he returning to break our necks, they respect not us.

DUTCH:
Ik schilder hem naar ‘t leven. Geef acht, welke goedertierenheid zijn moeder van hem thuis zal brengen; er is in hem niet meer goedertierenheid, dan melk in een mannetjestijger. Dit zal onze arme stad ondervinden en dit
alles komt door u.

MORE:
Truly=Honestly, accurately
Paint=Describe, represent
Bring from=Elicit
Compleat:
Truly=Warlyk, degelyk, zo als het behoort
Elicit=(Extract): Uittrekken, verkorten

Topics: mercy, revenge, punishment

Categories: , , |

I seem’d his follower, not partner

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 5.5
SPEAKER: Aufidius
CONTEXT:
AUFIDIUS
That I would have spoke of:
Being banish’d for’t, he came unto my hearth;
Presented to my knife his throat: I took him;
Made him joint-servant with me; gave him way
In all his own desires; nay, let him choose
Out of my files, his projects to accomplish,
My best and freshest men; served his designments
In mine own person; holp to reap the fame
Which he did end all his; and took some pride
To do myself this wrong: till, at the last,
I seem’d his follower, not partner, and
He waged me with his countenance, as if
I had been mercenary.
FIRST CONSPIRATOR
So he did, my lord:
The army marvell’d at it, and, in the last,
When he had carried Rome and that we look’d
For no less spoil than glory,—
AUFIDIUS
There was it:
For which my sinews shall be stretch’d upon him.
At a few drops of women’s rheum, which are
As cheap as lies, he sold the blood and labour
Of our great action: therefore shall he die,
And I’ll renew me in his fall. But, hark!

DUTCH:
Ja, ‘k was
Er trotsch op, dus mijzelf te knotten; eind’lijk
Scheen ik zijn dienaar, niet zijn medeveldheer,
En was hij uit de hoogte mij genadig,
Als ware ik hem een huurling.

MORE:
I would have spoke=I was getting to
Joint-servant=Colleague, equal
Files=Ranks
Designments=Plans
Waged=Paid
Countenance=Look
Compleat:
A file of soldiers=Een gelid of ry soldaaten
Wages=Loon, jaargeld; belooning, bezolding
Countenance=Gelaat, gezigt, uitzigt, weezen.

Topics: punishment, pride, ingratitude, regret, betrayal

Cannot be!
We have record that very well it can, and three examples of the like have been within my age.

PLAY: Coriolanus
ACT/SCENE: 4.6
SPEAKER: Menenius
CONTEXT:
BRUTUS
Go see this rumourer whipp’d. It cannot be
The Volsces dare break with us.
MENENIUS
Cannot be!
We have record that very well it can,
And three examples of the like have been
Within my age. But reason with the fellow,
Before you punish him, where he heard this,
Lest you shall chance to whip your information
And beat the messenger who bids beware
Of what is to be dreaded.
SICINIUS
Tell not me:
I know this cannot be.
BRUTUS
Not possible.
MESSENGER
The nobles in great earnestness are going
All to the senate-house: some news is come
That turns their countenances.
SICINIUS
‘Tis this slave;—
Go whip him, ‘fore the people’s eyes:—his raising;
Nothing but his report.

DUTCH:
„Het kan niet zijn!” Wij weten, ‘t kan zeer goed;
Ik weet er uit mijn eigen levenstijd
Drie staaltjes van.

MORE:
My age=My lifetime
Information=Informant
Raising=Incitement
Compleat:
Informant=Aanbrenger
To raise a sedition=Een oproer verwekken of veroorzaaken

Topics: communication, news, punishment

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