QUOTES FROM THE BARD

I knew he was not in his perfect wits

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors ACT/SCENE: 5.1 SPEAKER: Angelo CONTEXT: ABBESS
Be quiet, people. Wherefore throng you hither?
ADRIANA
To fetch my poor distracted husband hence.
Let us come in, that we may bind him fast
And bear him home for his recovery.
ANGELO
I knew he was not in his perfect wits.
SECOND MERCHANT
I am sorry now that I did draw on him.
ABBESS
How long hath this possession held the man?
ADRIANA
This week he hath been heavy, sour, sad,
And much different from the man he was.
But till this afternoon his passion
Ne’er brake into extremity of rage.
ABBESS
Hath he not lost much wealth by wrack of sea?
Buried some dear friend? Hath not else his eye
Stray’d his affection in unlawful love,
A sin prevailing much in youthful men
Who give their eyes the liberty of gazing?
Which of these sorrows is he subject to? DUTCH: Ik wist wel, dat hij in de war moest zijn. MORE: Throng=Crowd
Hither=Here
Distracted=Agitated
Reprehend=Reprimand
Haply=Perhaps
Wrack of sea=Shipwreck
Compleat:
Throng=Gedrang, een menigte volks
Hither=Herwaards
Distracted=Van een gescheurd, ontroerd
Reprehend=Berispen, bestraffen
Haply=Misschien
Wrack=Een wrak, vergaan schip
To go to wrack=Verlooren gaan, te gronde gaan
Ship-wrack=Schipbreuk Topics: sorrow, emotion and mood, madness, anger

Oft our displeasures, to ourselves unjust, destroy our friends and after weep their dust

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 5.3
SPEAKER: King
CONTEXT:
BERTRAM
Admiringly, my liege, at first
I stuck my choice upon her, ere my heart
Durst make too bold a herald of my tongue
Where the impression of mine eye infixing,
Contempt his scornful perspective did lend me,
Which warp’d the line of every other favour;
Scorn’d a fair colour, or express’d it stolen;
Extended or contracted all proportions
To a most hideous object: thence it came
That she whom all men praised and whom myself,
Since I have lost, have loved, was in mine eye
The dust that did offend it.
KING
Well excused:
That thou didst love her, strikes some scores away
From the great compt: but love that comes too late,
Like a remorseful pardon slowly carried,
To the great sender turns a sour offence,
Crying, ‘That’s good that’s gone.’ Our rash faults
Make trivial price of serious things we have,
Not knowing them until we know their grave:
Oft our displeasures, to ourselves unjust,
Destroy our friends and after weep their dust
Our own love waking cries to see what’s done,
While shame full late sleeps out the afternoon.
Be this sweet Helen’s knell, and now forget her.
Send forth your amorous token for fair Maudlin:
The main consents are had; and here we’ll stay
To see our widower’s second marriage-day.

DUTCH:
Vaak drijft ons booze dolheid, en verslaan
We een vriend, om weenend aan zijn graf te staan;

MORE:
Stuck=Fixed
Perspectives=(a) Multifaceted crystal balls, often mounted; (b) A type of painting which, when viewed obliquely, reveals another (more complex or deeper) meaning
Scores=debits
Compt=Account
Remorseful=Regretful, guilty
Compleat:
Perspective=Een verschiet, doorzigt
A piece of perspective=Een afbeelding in ‘t verschiet
A perspective glass=Een verrekyker
Score=Rekening, kerfstok
Scored up=Op rekening, op de kerfstok gezet
Accompt=Rekening, begrooting
Remorse=Knaaging, wroeging, berouw

Topics: regret, guilt, sorrow

The tears live in an onion that should water this sorrow

PLAY: Antony and Cleopatra
ACT/SCENE: 1.2
SPEAKER: Enobarbus
CONTEXT:
ENOBARBUS
Why, sir, give the gods a thankful sacrifice. When it
pleaseth their deities to take the wife of a man from
him, it shows to man the tailors of the earth,
comforting therein, that when old robes are worn out,
there are members to make new. If there were no more
women but Fulvia, then had you indeed a cut, and the
case to be lamented. This grief is crowned with
consolation. Your old smock brings forth a new
petticoat, and indeed the tears live in an onion that
should water this sorrow.
ANTONY
The business she hath broached in the state
Cannot endure my absence.

DUTCH:
Waren er geen vrouwen meer
dan Fulvia, dan waart gij er inderdaad erg aan toe en
wegens uw lot te beklagen; maar dit leed wordt met
troost gekroond; uw oud vrouwenhemd levert een nieuwen
onderrok; en, waarachtig, in een ui schuilen de
tranen, die dezen kommer moeten besproeien.

MORE:
Proverb: The tailor makes the man
Proverb: Nine (three) tailors make a man

Tailors=Tailors were proverbially the makers of men
Members=Limbs
Cut=Slash
Tears live in an onion=Not real tears
Broached=Started, opened
Compleat:
Tailor=Snyder, kleermaker
Member=Lid, Lidmaat. Member of the body=Een lid des lichaams
To broach=Aan ‘t spit steeken, speeten; voortbrengen

Topics: proverbs and idioms, grief, sorrow

Between their titles and low name there’s nothing differs but the outward fame.

PLAY: Richard III
ACT/SCENE: 1.4
SPEAKER: Brakenbury
CONTEXT:
BRAKENBURY
Sorrow breaks seasons and reposing hours,
Makes the night morning, and the noontide night.
Princes have but their titles for their glories,
An outward honour for an inward toil,
And, for unfelt imaginations,
They often feel a world of restless cares,
So that betwixt their titles and low name
There’s nothing differs but the outward fame.

DUTCH:
Zoodat van lagen stand een hooge naam
In niets verschilt dan in den tooi der faam.

MORE:
Breaks=Ignores
Reposing=Rest
Unfelt=Unreal
Restless=Ceaseless
Compleat:
Repose=Rust
Restless=Rusteloos, ongerust, onverduldig

Topics: sorrow, appearance, status

Categories: , , |

Neither my place nor aught I heard of business hath raised me from my bed

PLAY: Othello
ACT/SCENE: 1.3
SPEAKER: Brabantio
CONTEXT:
DUKE
Valiant Othello, we must straight employ you
Against the general enemy Ottoman—
I did not see you. Welcome, gentle signior.
We lacked your counsel and your help tonight.
BRABANTIO
So did I yours. Good your grace, pardon me.
Neither my place nor aught I heard of business
Hath raised me from my bed, nor doth the general care
Take hold on me, for my particular grief
Is of so flood-gate and o’erbearing nature
That it engluts and swallows other sorrows
And it is still itself.

DUTCH:
Zoo ik uw hulp. Genadig heer, vergeef mij,
Geen ambtszaak, geen gerucht van wat hier omging,
Riep van mijn bed mij op; geen staatszorg is ‘t,
Die mij vervult;

MORE:
Straight=Immediately
Lacked=Missed
Englut=Engulf
Place=Duty
Floodgate=Overwhelming
Compleat:
Straightway=Eenswegs, terstond, opstaandevoet
To lack=Ontbreeken, van noode hebben
To englut=Verkroppen
Floud-gate=Sluys, doortogt

Topics: emotion and mood, work, satisfaction, sorrow

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