Who said it - Shakespeare quotes

[portia]

I vote for Mith.

[truehobbit]

Who seems to be ignoring our little thread.

[MithLuin]

How can I be ignoring you when I'm not here?

This is a favorite of a friend of mine:

"My words fly up, my thoughts remain below: Words without thoughts never to heaven go."

Play and speaker, please.

[portia]

King Claudius in "Hamlet." He is praying, or trying to. Hamlet thinks Claudius is praying and doesn't kill him.

[MithLuin]

Correct. Your turn.

[truehobbit]

Ack, YES, of course!
I saw it yesterday and knew I knew it, but I just couldn't place it.
Well done, portia.

[portia]

Hmmm. It is hard to balance between too familiar and too obscure.

Let's try this:
I need the play and something else about the quote (who says it, or the circumstances, or where it is in the play or something like that)


When that I was and a little tiny boy,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain
A foolish thing was but a toy,
For the rain it raineth every day

. . . .

A great while ago the world begun
with hey, ho, &c
but that's all one, our play is done
And we'll strive to please you every day.

[TS]

I think it's spoken by that singer guy in Twelfth Night -- forget his name. He's a fool or clown type character, but I'm pretty sure he has a first name, too. I believe it concludes the play, though that's kind of obvious from the last stanza.

I think a variant of "the rain it raineth everyday" appears in King Lear, too, but this version has to be the Twelfth Night one.

[portia]

Yes, very good TS! Your turn.

[TS]

This one's not as obscure as my last one, and it may've been done before, but here we go. I blanked out the name that might give away the play/speaker. Bonus points for filling it in!

"You have done that you should be sorry for.
There is no terror, [NAME], in your threats,
For I am arm'd so strong in honesty
That they pass by me as the idle wind,
Which I respect not. I did send to you
For certain sums of gold, which you denied me:
For I can raise no money by vile means:
By heaven, I had rather coin my heart,
And drop my blood for drachmas, than to wring
From the hard hands of peasants their vile trash
By any indirection."

[portia]

I am about to go on a trip, so am staying out of this. When I get over jet-lag, I will return.

[IrisBrandybuck]

Oh, my, that sounds very familiar...

Bye, Portia! have a good trip!

[portia]

Hello again. I have come east for the birth of our second grandchild. Our daughter in law is sooooo ready not to be pregnant anymore. She is making remarks, directed toward her belly, such as "Maggie, get OUT of there!"

As to the quote. I think it is from "Julius Caesar," said by Brutus to Cassius, in Brutus's tent. That self-righteous, yet self-contradictory, speech always has annoyed me. He can't "raise money by vile means" but he can ask Cassius for it.

[MithLuin]

Welcome to the east coast! <bows graciously>

[Ilyda]

Portia is probably right, but I'm going to throw a random guess in here. The quote reminds me a lot of The Merchant of Venice and the "discussions" between Antonio and Shylock. I would tend to guess Antonio on this, since he is very self-righteous, and Shakespeare portrayed Shylock as being pretty sleazy. (Sigh)

Anyway, that's my two cents before the curtain falls.

[TS]

portia is correct, on play and speaker and context! I cut the passage off mid-line because Brutus goes on to talk about raising legions, and that would've narrowed the possible plays down to the Roman ones. Shylock and Cassius are both pretty sleazy, though. But something else, too.

The one about Caesar bestriding the narrow world like a colossus is another good Julius Caesar passage, but with speaker and addressee reversed.

[truehobbit]

Ilyda, the general content of the quote reminded me of Merchant of Venice, too.
But I knew it couldn't be that one, because I'd just watched the movie version with Al Pacino ( ), and of course they don't use drachmas in Venice, so it had to be something with a classical setting.

[portia]

Hi. I have not forgotten to post a quote. I am chasing my grandson around and haven't had time.

Back soon.

[portia]

We are all on pins and needles, here, as today is the official due date for grandchild no. 2, but she is showing no inclination to appear. So, I'd better do this and get it out of the way.

This one is depressing, and may be obscure, but here goes:


No matter where; of comfort no man speak.
Let's talk of graves, of worms, and epitaphs.
Make dust our paper and with rainy eyes
Write sorrow on the bosom of the earth.
Let's choose executors and talk of wills
And yet not so for what can we bequeath
Except our deposed bodies to the ground?

[Ilyda]

That sounds vaguely familiar, though I can't remember where from. It strikes me as oddly similar to Hamlet's speech about Polonius being "not where he eats, but where he is eaten," and the following discussion about worms.

So, I'm going to guess that it's Hamlet in Hamlet, when he and Claudius are discussing where the former has stashed Polonius' dead body. I remember that scene being morbidly entertaining and slightly disturbing, but that has no bearing on whether I'm right. And since I don't really know, I'll wait for Portia to make a judgment on this.

Hope you get to see your new grandchild soon, by the way!

[portia]

Thank you for the good wishes. My daughter in law heartily agrees!

No, not Hamlet

[MithLuin]

Richard III?

[portia]

Well, it is a history. Not Richard III, tho'

Things are a little strange, here, as Grandchild No. 2 still hasn't appeared. I hope she shows up before I have to get on a plane and return to CA.

[truehobbit]

Is that the one with the line: Let us sit on the carpet, friends, and tell sad stories of the death of kings?

Not that I have a clue which history it's from, if it is, it just sounds like it would fit in the same speech.
The bit above was quoted in Blackadder (Percy, in Blackadder II, IIRC).

[portia]

Is that the one with the line: Let us sit on the carpet, friends, and tell sad stories of the death of kings?

Not that I have a clue which history it's from, if it is, it just sounds like it would fit in the same speech.
The bit above was quoted in Blackadder (Percy, in Blackadder II, IIRC).

I do not have the book handy. But I think it is either the same speech or the same scene. I am a little distracted. Grandchild no. 2 made her appearance at 12:11 EDT, today. 8 lb, 2 oz, 20 " long and adorable, of course. Is it possible for a 20 minute old girl NOT to be adorable?

[TS]

With the clue that it's a history, I'd guess Richard II, though I don't know who the speaker would be, unless it's the title character. But that's a history with pretty language and talk of graves and worms.

[portia]

Tra La! TS, you are correct. It is Richard II. He sees his future coming at him.

Go Ahead.

I now have to get back to CA, with my NUMEROUS grandchild pictures.

[TS]

Okay, I'm using this one only because in high school a few years ago, I had to "perform" == i.e., stand there and mumble it all out -- the whole scene from which it's taken for extra credit.

Speaker, play, context, and/or the character the speaker is addressing/"conjuring." If no one gets it, I'll give the line that immediately precedes the passage, 'cause that's a big hint:

'Appear thou in the likeness of a sigh!
Speak but one rhyme, and I am satisfied.
Cry but “Ay me!” Pronounce but “love” and “dove.”
Speak to my gossip Venus one fair word,
One nickname for her purblind son and heir,
Young Abraham Cupid, he that shot so true
When King Cophetua loved the beggar maid.—
He heareth not, he stirreth not, he moveth not.
The ape is dead, and I must conjure him.—
I conjure thee by Rosaline's bright eyes,
By her high forehead and her scarlet lip,
By her fine foot, straight leg, and quivering thigh,
And the demesnes that there adjacent lie,
That in thy likeness thou appear to us.'

[portia]

HMMM. The ole' Inner Voice suggested something and I checked that place to see if it was correct. It was not.

*kicks Inner Voice*

So, I am reduced to saying that it sounds familiar, but I cannot make a try, yet.

[AvadaKedavra]

Sounds like Romeo and Juliet. but thats all I have.