QUOTES FROM THE BARD

PLAY: Coriolanus ACT/SCENE: 3.2 SPEAKER: Coriolanus CONTEXT: CORIOLANUS
Well, I must do’t:
Away, my disposition, and possess me
Some harlot’s spirit! my throat of war be turn’d,
Which quired with my drum, into a pipe
Small as an eunuch, or the virgin voice
That babies lulls asleep! the smiles of knaves
Tent in my cheeks, and schoolboys’ tears take up
The glasses of my sight! a beggar’s tongue
Make motion through my lips, and my arm’d knees,
Who bow’d but in my stirrup, bend like his
That hath received an alms! I will not do’t,
Lest I surcease to honour mine own truth
And by my body’s action teach my mind
A most inherent baseness.
VOLUMNIA
At thy choice, then:
To beg of thee, it is my more dishonour
Than thou of them. Come all to ruin; let
Thy mother rather feel thy pride than fear
Thy dangerous stoutness, for I mock at death
With as big heart as thou. Do as thou list
Thy valiantness was mine, thou suck’dst it from me,
But owe thy pride thyself. DUTCH: Neen, ‘k wil ‘t niet doen,
Ik zou mijns harten waarheid zelf onteeren,
En door mijns lichaams kromming ook mijn geest
Tot eeuw’ge laagheid doemen. MORE: Tent=Camp
Surcease=Cease
Stoutness=Stubbornness
Compleat:
Surcease=Ophouden, staaken
Stoutness=(stiffness or sturdiness) Styfheid, onverzettelykheid, steiloorigheid Topics: communication, persuasion, truth, pride