|
|
| |
"It will help me nothing
To plead mine innocence, for that dye is on me
Which makes my whit'st part black."
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), British dramatist, poet. Buckingham, in Henry VIII, act 1, sc. 1, l. 207-9.
On being arrested as a traitor; "nothing" = not at all. |
"Reputation, reputation, reputation! O, I ha' lost my reputation, I ha' lost the immortal part of myself, and what remains is bestial!"
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), British dramatist, poet. Cassio, in Othello, act 2, sc. 3. |
"The miserable have no other medicine
But only hope."
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), British dramatist, poet. Claudio, in Measure for Measure, act 3, sc. 1. |
"I am advised to give her music a' mornings; they say it will
penetrate."
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), British dramatist, poet. Cloten, in Cymbeline, act 2, sc. 3, l. 11-2.
The buffoon, Cloten, attempts to woo Imogen; "penetrate" suggests his real desire. |
"I charge thee, Satan, housed within this man,
To yield possession to my holy prayers."
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), British dramatist, poet. Doctor Pinch, in The Comedy of Errors.
Treating the supposedly mad Antipholus of Ephesus. |
"Thou thyself hast been a libertine,
As sensual as the brutish sting itself."
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), British dramatist, poet. Duke Senior, in As You Like It, act 2, sc. 7, l. 65-6.
Denying Jaques the moral high ground he has claimed. |
"What time of day is it, lad?"
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), British dramatist, poet. Falstaff, in Henry IV, Part 1, act 1, sc. 2, l. 1.
Addressing Prince Hal as "lad" shows the close relationship between them. |
"The hedge-sparrow fed the cuckoo so long
That it had its head bit off by its young."
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), British dramatist, poet. Fool, in King Lear, act 1, sc. 4, l. 215-6.
The cuckoo lays its eggs in another bird's nest, and so is an emblem of ingratitude; Lear is the sparrow and Goneril, his daughter, the cuckoo. |
"You see how full of changes his age is."
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), British dramatist, poet. Goneril, in King Lear, act 1, sc. 1, l. 288.
Speaking of her father, King Lear. |
"Be thou as chaste as ice, as pure as snow, thou shalt
not escape calumny."
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), British dramatist, poet. Hamlet, in Hamlet, act 3, sc. 1, l. 135-6.
Addressing Ophelia. |
| |
|
|
|
|
William Shakespeare
Free
Poetry E-Book: