QUOTES FROM THE BARD

PLAY: Cymbeline
ACT/SCENE: 2.1
SPEAKER: Second Lord
CONTEXT:
SECOND LORD
You are a fool granted; therefore your
issues, being foolish, do not derogate.
be foolish, it won’t lower people’s
opinions any further.
CLOTEN
Come, I’ll go see this Italian: what I have lost
to-day at bowls I’ll win to-night of him. Come, go.
SECOND LORD
I’ll attend your lordship.
That such a crafty devil as is his mother
Should yield the world this ass! A woman that
Bears all down with her brain, and this her son
Cannot take two from twenty, for his heart,
And leave eighteen. Alas, poor princess,
Thou divine Imogen, what thou endur’st,
Betwixt a father by thy step-dame governed,
A mother hourly coining plots, a wooer
More hateful than the foul expulsion is
Of thy dear husband, than that horrid act
Of the divorce he’d make! The heavens hold firm
The walls of thy dear honour, keep unshaked
That temple, thy fair mind, that thou mayst stand
T’ enjoy thy banished lord and this great land.

DUTCH:
Dat zulk een sluwe duivelin, zijn moeder,
Der wereld zulk een ezel schonk! Een vrouw,
Die met haar slimheid alles dwingt; en hij
Trekt, schoon ‘t den hals hem kostte, twee van twintig
Niet af, en houdt er achttien

MORE:
Crafty=Cunning, devious
To coin=To fabricate, in a good as well as bad sense: “coining plots”
Step-dame=Stepmother
Expulsion=A driving away, banishment
Stand=To remain upright, not to fall, not to be lost, not to perish
Compleat:
Crafty=Loos, listig, schalk, doortrapt, leep
To coin (new words)=Smeeden, verzinnen
Expulsion=Uitdryving, verdryving

Topics: marriage, intellect, relationship, plans/intentions