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QUOTES FROM THE BARD

The eyes of men, After a well-graced actor leaves the stage, Are idly bent on him that enters next

PLAY: Richard II ACT/SCENE: 5.2 SPEAKER: Duke of York CONTEXT: As in a theatre, the eyes of men,
After a well-graced actor leaves the stage,
Are idly bent on him that enters next,
Thinking his prattle to be tedious;
Even so, or with much more contempt, men’s eyes
Did scowl on gentle Richard; no man cried ‘God save him!’
No joyful tongue gave him his welcome home:
But dust was thrown upon his sacred head:
Which with such gentle sorrow he shook off,
His face still combating with tears and smiles,
The badges of his grief and patience,
That had not God, for some strong purpose, steel’d
The hearts of men, they must perforce have melted
And barbarism itself have pitied him.
But heaven hath a hand in these events,
To whose high will we bound our calm contents.
To Bolingbroke are we sworn subjects now,
Whose state and honour I for aye allow. DUTCH: Gelijk der menschen oogen in den schouwburg,
Na ‘t heengaan van een hooggevierd acteur,
Zich achtloos wenden op wie na hem komt MORE:
Idly=Indifferently, lacking interest
Prattle=Chatter
Badges=Marks, signs
For aye=For ever

Compleat:
Idly=Luiachtig
Prittle prattle=Gesnap, gepraat, gekakel Topics: authority, leadership

Categories: authority, Richard II|

He prays but faintly and would be denied.

PLAY: Richard II
ACT/SCENE: 5.3
SPEAKER: Duchess of York
CONTEXT:
Pleads he in earnest? look upon his face;
His eyes do drop no tears, his prayers are in jest;
His words come from his mouth, ours from our breast:
He prays but faintly and would be denied;
We pray with heart and soul and all beside:
His weary joints would gladly rise, I know;
Our knees shall kneel till to the ground they grow:
His prayers are full of false hypocrisy;
Ours of true zeal and deep integrity.
Our prayers do out-pray his; then let them have
That mercy which true prayer ought to have.

DUTCH:
Hij spreekt slechts met den mond, wij met het hart;
Hij wenscht een weig’ring op zijn zwakke bede,

MORE:

Proverb: He that asks faintly begs a denial

In jest=Not serious
Hypocrisy=False seeming, deceitful appearance, dissimulation

Topics: proverbs and idioms, appearance

Categories: proverbs and idioms, Richard II|

I do not sue to stand; Pardon is all the suit I have in hand.

PLAY: Richard II
ACT/SCENE: 5.3
SPEAKER: Duchess of York
CONTEXT:
DUCHESS OF YORK
Nay, do not say, ‘stand up;’
Say, ‘pardon’ first, and afterwards ‘stand up.’
And if I were thy nurse, thy tongue to teach,
‘Pardon’ should be the first word of thy speech.
I never long’d to hear a word till now;
Say ‘pardon,’ king; let pity teach thee how:
The word is short, but not so short as sweet;
No word like ‘pardon’ for kings’ mouths so meet.
DUKE OF YORK
Speak it in French, king; say, ‘pardonnez-moi.’
DUCHESS OF YORK
Dost thou teach pardon pardon to destroy?
Ah, my sour husband, my hard-hearted lord,
That set’st the word itself against the word!
Speak ‘pardon’ as ’tis current in our land;
The chopping French we do not understand.
Thine eye begins to speak; set thy tongue there;
Or in thy piteous heart plant thou thine ear;
That hearing how our plaints and prayers do pierce,
Pity may move thee ‘pardon’ to rehearse.
HENRY BOLINGBROKE
Good aunt, stand up.
DUCHESS OF YORK
I do not sue to stand;
Pardon is all the suit I have in hand.

DUTCH:
Ik vraag niet op te staan;
Neen, enkel om vergeving houd ik aan.

MORE:

Proverb: Short and sweet

Meet=Fitting, appropriate
Chopping=Changing the meaning of words
Plaints=Complaints
Sue=Beg
Suit=A request made to a prince, a court-solicitation
Nurse=Nanny

Compleat:
To chop=Ruilen, ruitebuiten
To chop at a thing=Iets aangrypen, vasthouden
Plaint=Klagte, aanklagte
Sue=Voor ‘t recht roepen, in rechte vervolgen
Suit=Een verzoek, rechtsgeding

Topics: proverbs and idioms, still in use, language

Categories: language, proverbs and idioms, Richard II|

Thoughts tending to ambition, they do plot Unlikely wonders

PLAY: Richard II
ACT/SCENE: 5.5
SPEAKER: King Richard II
CONTEXT:
I have been studying how I may compare
This prison where I live unto the world:
And for because the world is populous
And here is not a creature but myself,
I cannot do it; yet I’ll hammer it out.
My brain I’ll prove the female to my soul,
My soul the father; and these two beget
A generation of still-breeding thoughts,
And these same thoughts people this little world,
In humours like the people of this world,
For no thought is contented. The better sort,
As thoughts of things divine, are intermix’d
With scruples and do set the word itself
Against the word:
As thus, ‘Come, little ones,’ and then again,
‘It is as hard to come as for a camel
To thread the postern of a small needle’s eye.’
Thoughts tending to ambition, they do plot
Unlikely wonders; how these vain weak nails
May tear a passage through the flinty ribs
Of this hard world, my ragged prison walls,
And, for they cannot, die in their own pride.

DUTCH:
Eerzuchtige gedachten vormen plannen,
Zoo dol als moog’lijk, als: met zwakke nagels
Door dezer harde wereld kiezelribben

MORE:

Humours=Disposition, temperament
Scruples=Doubts
“Come, little ones”=Reference to the ease (and difficulty) of entering heaven. “Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God” and “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God” (Matthew 19:24)
Ambition=Desire of superiority, of honour and power
Plot=Contrive
Unlikely=Improbable
Flinty ribs=Castle walls

Compleat:
Every man bath his humour=Yder mensch heeft zyn eigen aart
Scrupule, scruple=Zwaarigheid
Ambition=Staatzucht, eergierigheid
Unlikely=Onwaarschynelyk

Topics: emotion and mood, plans/intentions/, imagination

Categories: emotion and mood, imagination, Richard II|

Thus play I in one person many people, And none contented

PLAY: Richard II
ACT/SCENE: 5.5
SPEAKER: King Richard II
CONTEXT:
Thoughts tending to content flatter themselves
That they are not the first of fortune’s slaves,
Nor shall not be the last; like silly beggars
Who sitting in the stocks refuge their shame,
That many have and others must sit there;
And in this thought they find a kind of ease,
Bearing their own misfortunes on the back
Of such as have before endured the like.
Thus play I in one person many people,
And none contented: sometimes am I king;
Then treasons make me wish myself a beggar,
And so I am: then crushing penury
Persuades me I was better when a king;
Then am I king’d again: and by and by
Think that I am unking’d by Bolingbroke,
And straight am nothing: but whate’er I be,
Nor I nor any man that but man is
With nothing shall be pleased, till he be eased
With being nothing. Music do I hear?

DUTCH:
Zoo speel ik veel personen, gansch alleen,
Nooit een tevreed’ne

MORE:

Proverb: I am not the first and shall not be the last

Refuge=Protection from danger, expedient in distress

Compleat:
Refuge=Toevlugt, wyk, schuilplaats

Topics: proverbs and idioms, still in use, poverty and wealth, money, satisfaction

Categories: money, poverty and wealth, proverbs and idioms, Richard II, satisfaction|

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