- |#Shakespearesaysitbetter
- |#Shakespearesaysitbetter
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QUOTES FROM THE BARD
You fools! I and my fellows Are ministers of fate.
ACT/SCENE: 3.3
SPEAKER: Ariel
CONTEXT:
You are three men of sin, whom Destiny,
That hath to instrument this lower world
And what is in ’t, the never-surfeited sea
Hath caused to belch up you—and on this island
Where man doth not inhabit, you ’mongst men
Being most unfit to live. I have made you mad,
And even with suchlike valor men hang and drown
Their proper selves.
You fools, I and my fellows
Are ministers of fate. The elements
Of whom your swords are tempered may as well
Wound the loud winds or with bemocked-at stabs
Kill the still-closing waters as diminish
One dowl that’s in my plume. My fellow ministers
Are like invulnerable.
DUTCH:
Gij dwazen! mijne makkers
En ik zijn ‘s noodlots dienaars
MORE:
Surfeit=To feed to excess, to cloy (used only in the partic. –ed: “the never –ed sea,”)
Ministers=Agents, servants
Dowl(e)=Fibre of down in a feather (“diminish one d. that’s in my plume”)
Still-closing=Always coalescing again
Topics: fate/destiny, power, corruption
These mine enemies are all knit up
In their distractions
PLAY: The Tempest
ACT/SCENE: 3.3
SPEAKER: Prospero
CONTEXT:
Bravely the figure of this harpy hast thou
Performed, my Ariel. A grace it had, devouring.
Of my instruction hast thou nothing bated
In what thou hadst to say.—So with good life
And observation strange, my meaner ministers
Their several kinds have done. My high charms work
And these mine enemies are all knit up
In their distractions. They now are in my power,
And in these fits I leave them while I visit
Young Ferdinand, whom they suppose is drowned,
And his and mine loved darling.
DUTCH:
Mijn tooverkracht
Werkt machtig; mijne vijanden zijn allen
Verstrikt in hun verbijst’ring; ik beheersch hen;
En ‘k laat hen in hun waanzin, om nu eerst
Tot Ferdinand, — dien zij verdronken wanen, —
En zijne en mijne liev’ling mij te spoeden.
MORE:
Bated=Omitted, neglected
Schmidt:
Bravely=Admirably
Figure=Image, representation
Harpy=A monster of ancient fable, with the face of a woman and the body of a bird of prey
Strange=extraordinary, enormous, remarkable, singular
Observation strange=Attention to detail
Several=In keeping with their separate natures
High charms=Superior magic
Knit up in=Tied up with, entangled in
Compleat:
Harpy (or fabelous monster)=Harpy, een fabel-achtig monster
Harpy or griping woman=Een giereige feeks
Bate=Verminderen, afkorten, afslaan
Figure (representation)=Afbeelding
Knit together=Verknocht, samengeknoopt
He is knit to his master’s interest=Hy is het belang van zynen Heer zeer toegedaan
Topics: conflict, plans/intentions, madness
We are such stuff
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep
PLAY: The Tempest
ACT/SCENE: 4.1
SPEAKER: Prospero
CONTEXT:
You do look, my son, in a moved sort,
As if you were dismayed. Be cheerful, sir.
Our revels now are ended. These our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits and
Are melted into air, into thin air.
And like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself—
Yea, all which it inherit—shall dissolve,
And like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep. Sir, I am vexed.
Bear with my weakness. My old brain is troubled.
Be not disturbed with my infirmity.
If you be pleased, retire into my cell
And there repose. A turn or two I’ll walk
To still my beating mind.
DUTCH:
Wij zijn van de stof, Waar droomen van gevormd zijn; ‘t korte leven Is van een slaap omringd./
Van dezelfde stof zijn wij als onze dromen; en ons kleine leven is door de slaap omringd
MORE:
Frequently misquoted as “Such stuff as dreams are made of”
These our actors…not a rack behind. This passage is often extracted from its context and treated as farewell to his art; Al Pacino recited it in his 1996 film ‘Looking for Richard’.
In a moved sort=Agitated, upset
Revels=Courtly entertainment
Insubstantial pageant=imagined pageant
Baseless fabric of this vision=Having no basis in reality
Rack=’driving mist or fog’ (OED): scarcely a trace
Compleat:
Pageant=Een grootsche vertooning. Pageantry+Praal, pracht, triiomfelyke vertooning. Het is but meer (sic) pageantry=Het is maar klatergoud, niets anders dan een ydele vertooning.
Moved=Bewoogen, verroerd, ontroerd
Topics: life, age/experience, misquoted
A devil, a born devil on whose nature
Nurture can never stick
PLAY: The Tempest
ACT/SCENE: 4.1
SPEAKER: Prospero
CONTEXT:
A devil, a born devil on whose nature
Nurture can never stick, on whom my pains,
Humanely taken, all, all lost, quite lost.
And as with age his body uglier grows,
So his mind cankers. I will plague them all,
Even to roaring.
DUTCH:
Een duivel, een geboren duivel, waar
Verpleging aan verspild is, alle zorg,
Die ‘k liefd’rijk droeg, verloren, gansch verloren!
MORE:
Pains humanely taken = efforts with the best intentions
Canker’ blossom (or canker rose): dog rose or wild rose. Also used to refer to something that would destroy, infect or decay.
Compleat:
Humanely=Menschelyker wyze, beleefdelyk
Canker=Inkankeren, ineeten
Topics: insult, good and bad, nature
The rarer action is In virtue than in vengeance
PLAY: The Tempest
ACT/SCENE: 5.1
SPEAKER: Prospero
CONTEXT:
And mine shall.
Hast thou, which art but air, a touch, a feeling
Of their afflictions, and shall not myself,
One of their kind, that relish all as sharply
Passion as they, be kindlier moved than thou art?
Though with their high wrongs I am struck to th’ quick,
Yet with my nobler reason ‘gainst my fury
Do I take part. The rarer action is
In virtue than in vengeance. They being penitent,
The sole drift of my purpose doth extend
Not a frown further. Go release them, Ariel.
My charms I’ll break, their senses I’ll restore,
And they shall be themselves.
DUTCH:
Mijn rede is eed’ler dan mijn wrok, en neemt
Partij er tegen. Een verheev’ner doen
Is deugd dan wraak. Nu zij berouwvol zijn,
Ben ik aan ‘t doel en reikt mijn streven thans
Geen fronsblik verder. Ga, bevrijd hen, Ariel.
Ik breek mijn tooverboei, herstel hun geest;
Zij mogen weer zichzelf zijn.
MORE:
Proverb: To be able to do harm and not to do it is noble
Proverb: Touched to the quick
See also LLL:
“Of all that virtue love for virtue loved: Most power to do most harm, least knowing ill;”
High wrongs=Serious offences such as treason and attempted murder
Rarer=Unusual, exceptional
Virtue=Forgiveness, mercy
Compleat:
Rare (that happens but seldom)=Zeldzaam; (or scarce)=Schaars, raar; (excellent)=Uitmuntend
Virtue (an habit of the soul, whereby a man is inclined to do good and to shun evil)=Deugd