Shakespeare Exam 1

Then senseless Ilium, Seeming to feel this blow, with flaming top Stoops to his base, and with a hideous crash Takes prisoner Pyrrhus' ear. For lo, his sword, Which was declining on the milky head Of reverend Priam, seemed i' th' air to stick. So as a painted tyrant Pyrrhus stood And, like a neutral to his will and matter, Did nothing.

Hamlet, First Player (performing speech of Pyrrhus for Hamlet and Polonius), the collapse of Ilium, the citadel of Troy, represents that killing the head of the people (the king) kills the people too. Foreshadowing passage at the end.

I find thee apt; And duller shouldst thou be than the fat weed That roots itself in ease on Lethe wharf, Wouldst thou not stir in this. Now, _____, hear. 'Tis given out that, sleeping in my orchard, A serpent stung me. So the whole ear of Denmark Is by a forgèd process of my death Rankly abused. But know, thou noble youth, The serpent that did sting thy father's life Now wears his crown.

Hamlet, Ghost (Hamlet Sr to Hamlet Jr), referencing his own death. Hamlet Jr thinks he was killed by a snake in the garden while sleeping, but Ghost calls Claudius the snake that killed him. Important because this claim is the basis of Hamlet's actions throughout the rest of the play. Also important because uncertain if ghost is good or bad.

But virtue, as it never will be moved, Though lewdness court it in a shape of heaven, So, lust, though to a radiant angel linked, Will sate itself in a celestial bed And prey on garbage. But soft, methinks I scent the morning air. Brief let me be.

Hamlet, Ghost (Hamlet Sr to Hamlet Jr), saying that the Queen, his past wife, looks like an angel but is garbage, also reveals that Hamlet Sr (and Hamlet Jr) perceives Gertrude and Claudius' relationship as pure lust, not love. Also important because of the last two lines revealing that the ghost can not be out in the light, suggesting it could be a bad spirit.

Who's there?

Hamlet, Barnardo, first line of the play, important because it establishes the play from the very beginning as an interrogative play, creating an expectation of questioning and an uneasy tone.

Thus was I, sleeping, by a brother's hand Of life, of crown, of queen at once dispatched, Cut off, even in the blossoms of my sin, Unhouseled, disappointed, unaneled, No reck'ning made, but sent to my account With all my imperfections on my head. O horrible, O horrible, most horrible! If thou hast nature in thee, bear it not. Let not the royal bed of Denmark be A couch for luxury and damnèd incest. But, howsomever thou pursues this act, Taint not thy mind, nor let thy soul contrive Against thy mother aught. Leave her to heaven And to those thorns that in her bosom lodge To prick and sting her.

Hamlet, Ghost (Hamlet Sr. to Hamlet Jr.), this is the part of the conversation that the ghost actually tells Hamlet to avenge him. Reveals that he didn't have the right rituals performed at death and is stuck in purgatory until Hamlet avenges him. Also reveals that Gertrude violated religious law prohibiting incest marriage because she has a child from her previous marriage, important because revenge is the Lord's and the ghost asks Hamlet to do the opposite, taking revenge into his own hands. Also important because reveals that Hamlet Sr still cares for Gertrude, telling Hamlet Jr not to hurt her but to punish Claudius. VERY IMPORTANT: tells Hamlet to kill Claudius but to keep his own mind intact. Important because we see throughout the rest of the play Hamlet's mind and soul darkening.

Why, what should be the fear? I do not set my life at a pin's fee. And for my soul, what can it do to that, Being a thing immortal as itself? It waves me forth again. I'll follow it.

Hamlet, Hamlet (speaking to Horatio on whether or not he should go alone with the ghost), important because one of the few references to Hamlet's soul. Almost all references are before this encounter with the ghost, representing his darkening mind throughout the play as he moves forward with revenge.

My father's spirit—in arms! All is not well. I doubt some foul play. Would the night were come! Till then, sit still, my soul. Foul deeds will rise, Though all the earth o'erwhelm them, to men's eyes.

Hamlet, Hamlet (speaking to himself), suspects something, one of the only references in the play to Hamlet's soul, creates tone of foreboding even while he wishes for the night to come.

But two months dead—nay, not so much, not two. So excellent a king, that was to this Hyperion to a satyr; so loving to my mother That he might not beteem the winds of heaven Visit her face too roughly. Heaven and Earth, Must I remember? Why, she would hang on him As if increase of appetite had grown By what it fed on. And yet, within a month (Let me not think on 't; frailty, thy name is woman!)

Hamlet, Hamlet (speaking to himself), talking about his mother's marrying her brother-in-law so soon after the king's death, important example of misogyny, not saying "Frailty, thy name is Gertrude..." including all women in the statement, which includes Ophelia in the play. Foreshadows further connection between the two women throughout the play.

The rugged Pyrrhus, he whose sable arms, Black as his purpose, did the night resemble When he lay couchèd in th' ominous horse, Hath now this dread and black complexion smeared With heraldry more dismal. Head to foot, Now is he total gules, horridly tricked With blood of fathers, mothers, daughters, sons, Baked and impasted with the parching streets, That lend a tyrannous and a damnèd light To their lord's murder. Roasted in wrath and fire, And thus o'ersizèd with coagulate gore, With eyes like carbuncles, the hellish Pyrrhus Old grandsire Priam seeks.

Hamlet, Hamlet (to First Player asking him to perform the rest of speech about Pyrrhus), Pyrrhus was the son of Achilles who came to Troy to avenge the death of his father. Hamlet asks for this speech to be performed because it is the ideal example of a bloody revenger and becomes his role model. Also important because Pyrrhus stands in direct contrast to Hamlet, revealing that he delays because he's too sensitive to be a blood-revenger.

And therefore as a stranger give it welcome. There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy. But come. Here, as before, never, so help you mercy, How strange or odd some'er I bear myself (As I perchance hereafter shall think meet To put an antic disposition on) That you, at such times seeing me, never shall, With arms encumbered thus, or this headshake, Or by pronouncing of some doubtful phrase, As "Well, well, we know," or "We could an if we would," Or "If we list to speak," or "There be an if they might," Or such ambiguous giving-out, to note That you know aught of me—this do swear, So grace and mercy at your most need help you.

Hamlet, Hamlet (to Horatio and Marcellus after the conversation with the ghost): Hamlet making them swear upon his sword to never speak of the conversation he had with the ghost. He also details his plan to act and look like a madman to get close to Claudius so that he can kill him. Important because feigning madness is Hamlet's first thrust against Claudius in their metaphoric duel throughout the play.

Blessed are those Whose blood and judgment are so well co-meddled That they are not a pipe for Fortune's finger To sound what stop she please. Give me that man That is not passion's slave, and I will wear him In my heart's core, ay, in my heart of heart, As I do thee.—Something too much of this.

Hamlet, Hamlet (to Horatio before the Murder of Gonzago play), Hamlet admires Horatio because he is a man of reason and not a slave to passion. Important because reinforces that Hamlet believes in temperance and doesn't want to be passion's slave, causing his delay in avenging his father's death.

I have heard of your paintings too, well enough. God hath given you one face, and you make yourselves another. You jig and amble, and you lisp; you nickname God's creatures and make your wantonness your ignorance. Go to, I'll no more on 't. It hath made me mad. I say we will have no more marriage. Those that are married already, all but one, shall live. The rest shall keep as they are. To a nunnery, go.

Hamlet, Hamlet (to Ophelia during King and Polonius' testing scene with her), he continues to insult her in anger, referencing her use of makeup and calling her a prostitute again. The "all but one shall live" part is directly threatening Claudius, and, because Claudius is listening to this speech, he knows that Hamlet know what he's done and is out for revenge. continues the theme of testing, also continues theme of men using Ophelia to get to each other in the metaphoric duel at her expense, foreshadowing her later descent into madness. Also this hostility and stereotyping towards women proves Hamlet's darkening mind.

Get thee to a nunnery. Why wouldst thou be a breeder of sinners? I am myself indifferent honest, but yet I could accuse me of such things that it were better my mother had not borne me: I am very proud, revengeful, ambitious, with more offenses at my beck than I have thoughts to put them in, imagination to give them shape, or time to actthem in. What should such fellows as I do crawling between earth and heaven? We are arrant knaves all; believe none of us. Go thy ways to a nunnery.

Hamlet, Hamlet (to Ophelia during King and Polonius' testing scene with her), says this in anger to her because she returned his gifts. Nunnery reference to a brothel, so he's deeply offending her here. Important because reinforces Hamlet's mistreatment of women and his misogyny. Also disproves the love melancholy, that he was feigning madness over Ophelia. Also this hostility and stereotyping towards women proves Hamlet's darkening mind.

I am but mad north-north-west; when the wind is southerly, I know a hawk from a handsaw.

Hamlet, Hamlet (to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern as part of their initial testing conversation), he says here that he's not actually mad (NW smallest compass point away from true N and thus not far from sane), important because part of what explains his delay in avenging his father's death, revealing that he is actually mad, but he still says he isn't.

I will tell you why; so shall my anticipation prevent your discovery, and your secrecy to the King and Queen molt no feather. I have of late, but wherefore I know not, lost all my mirth, forgone all custom of exercises, and, indeed, it goes so heavily with my disposition that this goodly frame, the Earth, seems to me a sterile promontory; this most excellent canopy, the air, look you, this brave o'erhanging firmament, this majestical roof, fretted with golden fire—why, it appeareth nothing to me but a foul and pestilent congregation of vapors. What a piece of work is a man, how noble in reason, how infinite in faculties, in form and moving how express and admirable; in action how like an angel, in apprehension how like a god: the beauty of the world, the paragon of animals—and yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust? Man delights not me, no, nor women neither, though by your smiling you seem to say so.

Hamlet, Hamlet (to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern as part of their initial testing conversation), speech about the ideal Italian Renaissance man (which Hamlet was before the play) and how far Hamlet has fallen from that. Reveals his melancholy and depression. Also saying that through their own will, any human can become angels or sink to the level of beasts (mutability). Also important because it reveals that Hamlet delays in avenging his father because of his clinical melancholy. Also important because "what is this quintessence of dust" reveals Hamlet's darkening mind, specifically because of his devaluing of human life (he perceives humanity as dust at its worst).

Why, then, 'tis none to you, for there is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so. To me, it is a prison.

Hamlet, Hamlet (to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern), during Ros and Guild's conversation with Hamlet testing his sanity to report back to Claudius (talking about Denmark being a prison). Important because he's saying that all things are relative, that thinking so can make things good or bad. Proves Hamlet inconsistent because he regularly considers Claudius' murder of his father bad and Claudius' marriage to his mother bad. Reinforces theme of relativity and theme of double standards throughout the play.

Hum, I have heard That guilty creatures sitting at a play Have, by the very cunning of the scene, Been struck so to the soul that presently They have proclaimed their malefactions; For murder, though it have no tongue, will speak With most miraculous organ. I'll have these players Play something like the murder of my father Before mine uncle. I'll observe his looks; I'll tent him to the quick. If he do blench, I know my course. The spirit that I have seen May be a devil, and the devil hath power T' assume a pleasing shape; yea, and perhaps, Out of my weakness and my melancholy, As he is very potent with such spirits, Abuses me to damn me. I'll have grounds More relative than this. The play's the thing Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the King.

Hamlet, Hamlet (to himself after Polonius, Ros, Guild, and First Player leave after recitation of Pyrrhus speech), details his plan to use the Murder of Gonzago play with his own added 16-line speech to test his uncle and determine whether or not his uncle actually murdered his father. Explains that he delays in avenging his father both because he's clinically depressed and because he thinks the ghost may be a devil. Also Hamlet's next thrust in his metaphoric duel with Claudius after Claudius' testing him with R and G.

O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I! Is it not monstrous that this player here, But in a fiction, in a dream of passion, Could force his soul so to his own conceit That from her working all his visage wanned, Tears in his eyes, distraction in his aspect, A broken voice, and his whole function suiting With forms to his conceit—and all for nothing! For Hecuba! What's Hecuba to him, or he to Hecuba, That he should weep for her? What would he do Had he the motive and the cue for passion That I have? He would drown the stage with tears And cleave the general ear with horrid speech, Make mad the guilty and appall the free, Confound the ignorant and amaze indeed The very faculties of eyes and ears. Yet I, A dull and muddy-mettled rascal, peak Like John-a-dreams, unpregnant of my cause, And can say nothing—no, not for a king Upon whose property and most dear life A damned defeat was made. Am I a coward? Who calls me "villain"? breaks my pate across? Plucks off my beard and blows it in my face? Tweaks me by the nose? gives me the lie i' th' throat As deep as to the lungs? Who does me this? Ha! 'Swounds, I should take it! For it cannot be But I am pigeon-livered and lack gall To make oppression bitter, or ere this I should have fatted all the region kites With this slave's offal. Bloody, bawdy villain!

Hamlet, Hamlet (to himself after Polonius, Ros, and guild leave), asking himself why the First Player could cry over the pain of a fictional figure of tragedy like Queen Hecuba and Hamlet, more motivated and invested than this player, can not move forward in avenging the tragic death of his father. Important because reveals that he delays in vengeance because he is a coward.

To be or not to be—that is the question: Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles And, by opposing, end them. To die, to sleep— No more—and by a sleep to say we end The heartache and the thousand natural shocks That flesh is heir to—'tis a consummation Devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep— To sleep, perchance to dream. Ay, there's the rub, For in that sleep of death what dreams may come, When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, Must give us pause. There's the respect That makes calamity of so long life. For who would bear the whips and scorns of time, Th' oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely, The pangs of despised love, the law's delay, The insolence of office, and the spurns That patient merit of th' unworthy takes, When he himself might his quietus make With a bare bodkin? Who would fardels bear, To grunt and sweat under a weary life, But that the dread of something after death, The undiscovered country from whose bourn No traveler returns, puzzles the will And makes us rather bear those ills we have Than fly to others that we know not of? Thus conscience does make cowards of us all, And thus the native hue of resolution Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought, And enterprises of great pitch and moment With this regard their currents turn awry And lose the name of action.

Hamlet, Hamlet (to himself but King and Polonius overhear him...right before testing with Ophelia), first lines are about Hamlet contemplating suicide, throughout this sleep means death and dreams mean afterlife, which means he thinks he has a soul (reference to his soul even among the darkening of his mind). End part, he's saying that he might be a coward because he's too smart for his own good, understanding the consequences of what would happen if he avenged his father, further proving that he delays because he's too sensitive to be a blood-revenger.

Be not too tame neither, but let your own discretion be your tutor. Suit the action to theword, the word to the action, with this special observance, that you o'erstep not the modesty of nature. For anything so o'erdone is from the purpose of playing, whose end, both at the first and now was and is to hold, as 'twere, the mirror up to nature, to show virtue her own feature, scorn her own image, and the very age and body of the time his form and pressure. Now this overdone or come tardy off, though it makes the unskillful laugh, cannot but make the judicious grieve, the censure of the which one must in your allowance o'erweigh a whole theater of others.

Hamlet, Hamlet (to the three players before the Murder of Gonzago play), Shakespeare's theory of drama is temperance and moderation, the purpose of drama according to Hamlet is to reflect the world around it. Important because reinforces that Hamlet believes in temperance and doesn't want to be passion's slave, which is why he delays in his avenging his father's death.

His beard was grizzled, no? It was as I have seen it in his life, A sable silvered.

Hamlet, Hamlet and Horatio, Hamlet asking question about the appearance of the ghost of his father to test Horatio by asking him if his beard was what it was not to see what he says. Introduces theme of distrustfulness and of testing, and explains why Hamlet is quick to trust the ghost.

A little more than kin and less than kind.

Hamlet, Hamlet, aside referencing Claudius' and Gertrude's unnatural marriage, important because it reveals from the beginning Hamlet as a judgment of his mother and uncle's deed.

"Seems," madam? Nay, it is. I know not "seems." 'Tis not alone my inky cloak, good mother, Nor customary suits of solemn black, Nor windy suspiration of forced breath, No, nor the fruitful river in the eye, Nor the dejected havior of the visage, Together with all forms, moods, shapes of grief, That can denote me truly. These indeed "seem," For they are actions that a man might play; But I have that within which passes show, These but the trappings and the suits of woe.

Hamlet, Hamlet, important because he's saying there's an interior life that she doesn't know about, establishing Hamlet as a play on interiority, especially of the mind. References to acting and interiority also foreshadows Hamlet acting mad later on in the play when he's not.

If thou hast any sound or use of voice, Speak to me.If there be any good thing to be done That may to thee do ease and grace to me, Speak to me.If thou art privy to thy country's fate, Which happily foreknowing may avoid, O, speak! Or if thou hast uphoarded in thy life Extorted treasure in the womb of earth, For which, they say, you spirit soft walk in death, Speak of it.

Hamlet, Horatio, speaking to the ghost at the beginning before the ghost speaks to Hamlet, asking its purpose. Asks (1) its religious purpose (thinking it's stuck in purgatory and needs help moving to heaven), asks (2) its political purpose (thinking it has a warning), asks (3) its folklore purpose (which is more trivial than the other two). This is important because it introduces the question whether this is a good or a bad ghost, leaning towards bad ghost before it shrinks away at dawn right after he asks this question.

Love? His affections do not that way tend; Nor what he spake, though it lacked form a little, Was not like madness. There's something in his soul O'er which his melancholy sits on brood, And I do doubt the hatch and the disclose Will be some danger; which for to prevent, I have in quick determination Thus set it down: he shall with speed to England For the demand of our neglected tribute.

Hamlet, King Claudius (to Polonius after Hamlet's testing of madness through Ophelia), Hamlet has given away that he's not mad for Ophelia's love and that he intends to harm Claudius. Claudius plans to send Hamlet with a letter to the king in England that tells this king to execute Hamlet. Important because this is part of Claudius' counterthrust to send Hamlet to England after Hamlet's use of the Murder of Gonzago play.

I entreat you both That, being of so young days brought up with him And sith so neighbored to his youth and havior, That you vouchsafe your rest here in our court Some little time, so by your companies To draw him on to pleasures, and to gather So much as from occasion you may glean, Whether aught to us unknown afflicts him thus That, opened, lies within our remedy.

Hamlet, King Claudius (to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern), King using Hamlet's friends R and G as spies to see if Hamlet is really mad, proves R and G's disloyalty to Hamlet, important because another example of testing and distrust in the play. Claudius' first thrust in metaphorical duel with Hamlet.

Give me some light. Away!

Hamlet, King Claudius (to the general public during the Murder of Gonzago play), this occurs right after the Player murderer kills the Player King by poisoning him in the ear in the garden and taking his wife. This indicates the King rising to leave, proving his guilt to the murder of King Hamlet Sr and proving that the ghost was not a devil. This section is called "The Mouse Trap" and is part of Hamlet's thrust towards Claudius in their metaphoric duel after his testing Hamlet with R and G and with Ophelia.

Though yet of Hamlet our dear brother's death The memory be green, and that it us befitted To bear our hearts in grief, and our whole kingdom To be contracted in one brow of woe, Yet so far hath discretion fought with nature That we with wisest sorrow think on him Together with remembrance of ourselves.

Hamlet, King Claudius, first thing he says in the play, 7-line sentence proves him to be wordy and egotistical, important because it reinforces themes of the importance of language by revealing how we will view Claudius and how Hamlet views him purely through Shakespeare's use of syntax.

But, good my brother, Do not, as some ungracious pastors do, Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven, Whiles, like a puffed and reckless libertine, Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads And recks not his own rede.

Hamlet, Ophelia (to Laertes), Laertes has just advised Ophelia not to let Hamlet take her virtue just because of how she feels about hi,, she's saying he can give advice but he has to follow it too, important because shines a light on the double standards for women within this family and this play.

I do believe you think what now you speak, But what we do determine oft we break. Purpose is but the slave to memory, Of violent birth, but poor validity, Which now, the fruit unripe, sticks on the tree But fall unshaken when they mellow be. Most necessary 'tis that we forget To pay ourselves what to ourselves is debt. What to ourselves in passion we propose, The passion ending, doth the purpose lose. The violence of either grief or joy Their own enactures with themselves destroy. Where joy most revels, grief doth most lament; Grief joys, joy grieves, on slender accident.

Hamlet, Player King (to the Player Queen in The Murder of Gonzago), this reflects a forgiving view of the queen's remarriage and an empathy for the human condition that is important because it stands in direct contrast to Hamlet Jr and Sr. Therefore, the player king is a foil in the play that reminds us what they are not. Also reveals Shakespeare's view of human nature as fragile, inconstant, unstable, and ruled by passion. Hamlet's inability to comprehend this tolerance of human frailty further reinforces the darkening of his mind throughout the play.

Come, go with me. I will go seek the King. This is the very ecstasy of love, Whose violent property fordoes itself And leads the will to desperate undertakings As oft as any passions under heaven That does afflict our natures. I am sorry.

Hamlet, Polonius (to Ophelia about Hamlet), Hamlet has hurt Ophelia by acting mad and scaring her. Polonius assumes its love melancholy, or madness by love, which means that Hamlet is convincing them he's made at Ophelia's expense. Important because contributes to his rising melancholy as a character, reveals his low opinion of women and specifically of Ophelia, and foreshadows the toll his pursuit of revenge will take on Ophelia. Also part of his first thrust against Claudius in their metaphorical duel because he's feigning madness for Ophelia's love.

Ay, springes to catch woodcocks. I do know, When the blood burns, how prodigal the soul Lends the tongue vows. These blazes, daughter, Giving more light than heat, extinct in both Even in their promise as it is a-making, You must not take for fire. From this time Be something scanter of your maiden presence. Set your entreatments at a higher rate Than a command to parle. For Lord _______, Believe so much in him that he is young, And with a larger tether may he walk Than may be given you. In few, ________, Do not believe his vows, for they are brokers, Not of that dye which their investments show, But mere implorators of unholy suits, Breathing like sanctified and pious bawds The better to beguile.

Hamlet, Polonius (to Ophelia about Hamlet), saying that she should be extra careful because Hamlet can do more than she can as a woman. Highlighting the double standard for women in this family and in this play.

Yet here, Laertes? Aboard, aboard, for shame! The wind sits in the shoulder of your sail, And you are stayed for. There, my blessing with thee.And these few precepts in thy memory Look thou character. Give thy thoughts no tongue, Nor any unproportioned thought his act. Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar. Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried, Grapple them unto thy soul with hoops of steel, But do not dull thy palm with entertainment Of each new-hatched, unfledged courage. Beware Of entrance to a quarrel, but, being in, Bear 't that th' opposèd may beware of thee. Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice. Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judgment. Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy, But not expressed in fancy (rich, not gaudy), For the apparel oft proclaims the man, And they in France of the best rank and station Are of a most select and generous chief in that. Neither a borrower nor a lender be, For loan oft loses both itself and friend, And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry. This above all: to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man. Farewell. My blessing season this in thee.

Hamlet, Polonius, overall advice is to live only in temperance and moderation, never seeking one extreme or the other. problematic advice because it's too mechanical to live by, humans must live with their passions. Reinforces Polonius' lack of wisdom.

Do not forever with thy vailèd lids Seek for thy noble father in the dust. Thou know'st 'tis common; all that lives must die, Passing through nature to eternity.

Hamlet, Queen Gertrude, important because reference to Hamlet as a play about matter and especially the transformation of matter by saying that, to get to eternity, you must pass through matter of life on earth. also telling Hamlet he should move on from his father's death, revealing his idolization of his father and explaining his readiness to accept the ghost's call for revenge.

I shall obey you. And for your part, _____, I do wish That your good beauties be the happy cause Of _______'s wildness. So shall I hope your virtues Will bring him to his wonted way again, To both your honors. Madam, I wish it may.

Hamlet, Queen and Ophelia (talking before the King and Polonius' plot to figure out if Hamlet is in love with Ophelia by creating an encounter between them). Ophelia knows about the plot and goes along with it, revealing that she actually loves him and wants to know if he loves her or not. Also reinforces themes of testing and mistrust in the play.

Forever may my knees grow to the earth, My tongue cleave to my roof within my mouth, Unless a pardon ere I rise or speak.

King Rich II, Aumerle, end of the play speaking to Bolingbroke (now King Henry), reinforces the power of Bolingbroke's word as king, reinforces that it's a play about language, reinforces divinity of the throne, not of Richard, insinuating that Richard's perceived power of speech came only from the throne and that he no longer has divine speech.

They love not poison that do poison need, Nor do I thee. Though I did wish him dead, I hate the murderer, love him murderèd. The guilt of conscience take thou for thy labor, But neither my good word nor princely favor. With Cain go wander through shades of night, And never show thy head by day nor light.

King Rich II, Bolingbroke (King Henry), one of last lines of the play, reinforcement of the Cain and Abel imagery from the beginning of the play. Bolingbroke calls Exton Cain because he killed Richard, but Exton did so under perceived orders from Bolingbroke, making Bolingbroke Cain and Richard Abel. Bookends the play in a story about brother killing brother out of jealousy

O, who can hold a fire in his hand By thinking on the frosty Caucasus? Or cloy the hungry edge of appetite By bare imagination of a feast? Or wallow naked in December snow By thinking on fantastic summer's heat? O no, the apprehension of the good Gives but the greater feeling to the worse. Fell sorrow's tooth doth never rankle more Than when he bites but lanceth not the sore.

King Rich II, Bolingbroke, saying he can't imagine these six years passing well and quickly, that imagination can not combat reality. Important because theme that imagination is limited and that reality is inescapable

Finds brotherhood in thee no sharper spur? Hath love in thy old blood no living fire? Edward's seven sons, whereof thyself art one, Were as seven vials of his sacred blood Or seven fair branches springing from one root. Some of those seven are dried by nature's course, Some of those branches by the Destinies cut. But _______, my dear lord, my life, my ________, One vial full of Edward's sacred blood, One flourishing branch of his most royal root, Is cracked and all the precious liquor spilt, Is hacked down, and his summer leaves all faded, By envy's hand and murder's bloody ax.

King Rich II, Duchess of Gloucester to John of Gaunt, seeking revenge because Edward's blood is sacred, and spilling sacred blood can not be ignored. Reinforces divine nature of the king. Also importance of family loyalty.

If I know how or which way to order these affairs Thus disorderly thrust into my hands, Never believe me. Both are my kinsmen. T' one is my sovereign, whom both my oath And duty bids defend; t' other again Is my kinsman, whom the King hath wronged, Whom conscience and my kindred bids to right. Well, somewhat we must do.

King Rich II, Duke of York, Rich put Duke of York in charge of kingdom in his absence but that was stupid because York like Bolingbroke and is critical of Richard (both are his nephews). important because reinforces the sense of foreboding at Rich's coming downfall

Great Duke of Lancaster, I come to thee From plume-plucked Richard, who with willing soul Adopts thee heir, and his high scepter yields To the possession of thy royal hand. Ascend his throne, descending now from him, And long live Henry, fourth of that name!

King Rich II, Duke of York, this speech interrupts the string of duels that were about to happen at the end of the play and is directed at Bolingbroke (who is both Duke of Lancaster (by his father's title) and will ascend to the throne as Henry IV). This is important because it's hugely ironic, first that Richard interrupts the duels and the work of God just like at the beginning, and second because, by making Bolingbroke heir, Richard gives the throne to him as an inheritance, which nods back to the Gaunt's inheritance that Rich seized and foreshadows Rich's own death. Also reference to de Casibas tragedy in the throne descending from him.

Go, bind thou up young dangling apricokes Which, like unruly children, make their sire Stoop with oppression of their prodigal weight. Give some supportance to the bending twigs.— Go thou, and like an executioner Cut off the heads of too-fast-growing sprays That look too lofty in our commonwealth. All must be even in our government. You thus employed, I will go root away The noisome weeds which without profit suck The soil's fertility from wholesome flowers.

King Rich II, Gardener, the garden is a symbol for the government/state, saying that the good gardener is an effective ruler who is able to recognize uprisings and cut them off before they can overthrow the peace of the kingdom, important because it is an emblem scene and further reinforces that Richard is not a good monarch.

O, spare me not, my brother Edward's son, For that I was his father Edward's son! That blood already, like the pelican, Hast thou tapped out and drunkenly caroused. My brother Gloucester—plain, well-meaning soul, Whom fair befall in heaven 'mongst happy souls— May be a precedent and witness good That thou respect'st not spilling Edward's blood. Join with the present sickness that I have, And thy unkindness be like crooked age To crop at once a too-long withered flower. Live in thy shame, but die not shame with thee! These words hereafter thy tormentors be!— Convey me to my bed, then to my grave. Love they to live that love and honor have.

King Rich II, Gaunt, calling Richard out directly for the murder of the Duke of Gloucester, importance of family loyalty and juxtaposed with the many indirect references to Rich's guilt, also explains why Rich is so willing to seize all of Bolingbroke's inheritance

Alas, the part I had in Woodstock's blood Doth more solicit me than your exclaims To stir against the butchers of his life. But since correction lieth in those hands Which made the fault that we cannot correct, Put we our quarrel to the will of heaven, Who, when they see the hours ripe on Earth, Will rain hot vengeance on offenders' heads.

King Rich II, John of Gaunt, Duchess of Gloucester wants him to avenge the Duke's death as his brother, Gaunt doesn't want to, important because, in this play, vengeance belongs to the Lord alone

This royal throne of kings, this sceptered isle, This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars, This other Eden, demi-paradise, This fortress built by Nature for herself Against infection and the hand of war, This happy breed of men, this little world, This precious stone set in the silver sea, Which serves it in the office of a wall Or as a moat defensive to a house, Against the envy of less happier lands, This blessèd plot, this earth, this realm, this England, This nurse, this teeming womb of royal kings, Feared by their breed and famous by their birth, Renownèd for their deeds as far from home For Christian service and true chivalry As is the sepulcher in stubborn Jewry Of the world's ransom, blessèd Mary's son, This land of such dear souls, this dear dear land, Dear for her reputation through the world, Is now leased out—I die pronouncing it— Like to a tenement or pelting farm.

King Rich II, John of Gaunt, saying that their country is being leased up in taxes, passage used in WWII, important because of deep patriotism but also because it would be solid advice for the king but the king wouldn't take it, reinforcing Rich's lack of political sense

But not a minute, king, that thou canst give. Shorten my days thou canst with sullen sorrow, And pluck nights from me, but not lend a morrow. Thou canst help time to furrow me with age, But stop no wrinkle in his pilgrimage. Thy word is current with him for my death, But dead, thy kingdom cannot buy my breath.

King Rich II, John of Gaunt, speaking of King Rich shortening Bolingbroke's sentence from 10 years to 6 years, important because he's saying that the king can take away time, but he can not add or create time because he's not God. Challenging Richard's divinity as a royal and challenging Richard's perception of himself as a better Christ because this statement reveals Richard is limited by time like any other human.

Then, ____________, as low as to thy heart, Through the false passage of thy throat, thou liest. Three parts of that receipt I had for Calais Disbursed I duly to his Highness' soldiers; The other part reserved I by consent, For that my sovereign liege was in my debt Upon remainder of a dear account Since last I went to France to fetch his queen. Now swallow down that lie. For Gloucester's death, I slew him not, but to my own disgrace Neglected my sworn duty in that case.

King Rich II, Mowbray, response to Bolingbroke's 3 reasons for challenging him to a duel, addresses #1, ignores #2 because it's outrageous, and sort of addresses #3... doesn't clear up whether or not he killed the Duke, important because establishes theme of ambiguity, "I slew him not, but to my own disgrace / Neglected my sworn duty in that case" could mean he didn't kill him or he did kill him.

The language I have learnt these forty years, My native English, now I must forgo; And now my tongue's use is to me no more Than an unstringèd viol or a harp, Or like a cunning instrument cased up, Or, being open, put into his hands That knows no touch to tune the harmony. Within my mouth you have enjailed my tongue, Doubly portcullised with my teeth and lips, And dull unfeeling barren ignorance Is made my jailor to attend on me. I am too old to fawn upon a nurse, Too far in years to be a pupil now. What is thy sentence, then, but speechless death, Which robs my tongue from breathing native breath?

King Rich II, Mowbray, talking about his exile to Venice in terms of language because he's too old to learn Italian, he's saying that Richard has taken his language away and made him a mute through this exile, important because reinforces that the play is about the importance of language

My lord, in the base court he doth attend To speak with you, may it please you to come down. Down, down I come, like glist'ring Phaëton, Wanting the manage of unruly jades. In the base court—base court, where kings grow base, To come at traitors' calls and do them grace. In the base court come down—down court, down king, For nightowls shriek where mounting larks should sing.

King Rich II, Northumberland and Richard, enacting de Casibas tragedy, foreshadowing the downfall of Richard

Then thus: I have from Le Port Blanc, A bay in Brittany, received intelligence That Harry Duke of Hereford, Rainold Lord Cobham, That late broke from the Duke of Exeter, His brother, archbishop late of Canterbury, Sir Thomas Erpingham, Sir John Ramston, Sir John Norbery, Sir Robert Waterton, and Francis Coint— All these well furnished by the Duke of Brittany With eight tall ships, three thousand men of war, Are making hither with all due expedience And shortly mean to touch our northern shore. Perhaps they had ere this, but that they stay The first departing of the King for Ireland. If then we shall shake off our slavish yoke, Imp out our drooping country's broken wing, Redeem from broking pawn the blemished crown, Wipe off the dust that hides our scepter's gilt, And make high majesty look like itself, Away with me in post to Ravenspurgh. But if you faint, as fearing to do so, Stay and be secret, and myself will go.

King Rich II, Northumberland, important because Bolingbroke doesn't know that his inheritance was seized by Rich yet, so he's not coming for that reason but to seize power over England, also important because of historical relevance, establishing the ability to rebel against the throne during Elizabeth's unpopular reign.

We are amazed, and thus long have we stood To watch the fearful bending of thy knee, Because we thought ourself thy lawful king. An if we be, how dare thy joints forget To pay their awful duty to our presence? If we be not, show us the hand of God That hath dismissed us from our stewardship, For well we know no hand of blood and bone Can gripe the sacred handle of our scepter, Unless he do profane, steal, or usurp. And though you think that all, as you have done, Have torn their souls by turning them from us, And we are barren and bereft of friends, Yet know, my master, God omnipotent, Is mustering in his clouds on our behalf Armies of pestilence, and they shall strike Your children yet unborn and unbegot, That lift your vassal hands against my head And threat the glory of my precious crown.

King Rich II, Richard to Northumberland after arrival of Bolingbroke, believes the earth is fighting for him because he is God's chosen mouthpiece as the king, important because reinforces Rich's perception of his divine nature and his passivity towards the rebellion (and his misunderstanding of Bolingbroke's stated intentions)

Give me that glass, and therein will I read. No deeper wrinkles yet? Hath sorrow struck So many blows upon this face of mine And made no deeper wounds? O flatt'ring glass, Like to my followers in prosperity, Thou dost beguile me. Was this face the face That every day under his household roof Did keep ten thousand men? Was this the face That like the sun did make beholders wink? Is this the face which faced so many follies, That was at last outfaced by Bolingbroke? A brittle glory shineth in this face.

King Rich II, Richard, asks for a mirror to look upon himself and wants to see a Christlike face, which to him is a face that shows heavy suffering. Instead, his face does not reflect suffering, which makes him angry because that means he's not Christlike, so he breaks the mirror. Important because themes of Richard's perception of himself as a better Christ, as well as Richard's instability as a character. Also imitates Christopher Marlowe's speech on the Trojan War.

The sly, slow hours shall not determinate The dateless limit of thy dear exile. The hopeless word of "never to return" Breathe I against thee, upon pain of life.

King Rich II, Richard, banishes Mowbray for life because he knows too much and is a danger to Richard, important because Rich speaks like his word is God's, reinforcing themes of divinity of royalty and power of royal language

So when this thief, this traitor Bolingbroke, Who all this while hath reveled in the night Whilst we were wand'ring with the Antipodes, Shall see us rising in our throne, the east, His treasons will sit blushing in his face, Not able to endure the sight of day, But self-affrighted, tremble at his sin. Not all the water in the rough rude sea Can wash the balm off from an anointed king. The breath of worldly men cannot depose The deputy elected by the Lord.

King Rich II, Richard, believes all he has to do is appear and Bolingbroke will surrender, believes that God moves through the monarch and no man can change the will of God (aka the monarch). important because highlights Rich's perceptions of royal divinity and his political passivity

For God's sake, let us sit upon the ground And tell sad stories of the death of kings— How some have been deposed, some slain in war, Some haunted by the ghosts they have deposed, Some poisoned by their wives, some sleeping killed, All murdered. For within the hollow crown That rounds the mortal temples of a king Keeps Death his court, and there the antic sits, Scoffing his state and grinning at his pomp, Allowing him a breath, a little scene, To monarchize, be feared, and kill with looks, Infusing him with self and vain conceit, As if this flesh which walls about our life Were brass impregnable; and humored thus, Comes at the last and with a little pin Bores through his castle wall, and farewell, king! Cover your heads, and mock not flesh and blood With solemn reverence. Throw away respect, Tradition, form, and ceremonious duty, For you have but mistook me all this while. I live with bread like you, feel want, Taste grief, need friends. Subjected thus, How can you say to me I am a king?

King Rich II, Richard, important because Richard looking for pity, reveals him as unstable because he wants them to have a sense of his power and view him as divine but, at the same time, to view him as a man just like them

Swear by the duty that you owe to God— Our part therein we banish with yourselves— To keep the oath that we administer: You never shall, so help you truth and God, Embrace each other's love in banishment, Nor never look upon each other's face, Nor never write, regreet, nor reconcile This louring tempest of your homebred hate, Nor never by advisèd purpose meet To plot, contrive, or complot any ill 'Gainst us, our state, our subjects, or our land.

King Rich II, Richard, making Mowbray and Bolingbroke swear that they will never meet up during their exile, important because asking them to never plot against him proves his guilt, paranoia, and lack of political common sense.

And here have I the daintiness of ear To check time broke in a disordered string; But for the concord of my state and time Had not an ear to hear my true time broke. I wasted time, and now doth time waste me; For now hath time made me his numb'ring clock. My thoughts are minutes, and with sighs they jar Their watches on unto mine eyes, the outward watch, Whereto my finger, like a dial's point, Is pointing still in cleansing them from tears.

King Rich II, Richard, part of 66-line monologue at end of play (twice the age of Christ... Richard thinks he's better than Christ). themes of time; however, now, for Richard, time lacks all meaning. Personification of time represents its agency over him, reinforcing his lack of power and further juxtaposing his perceptions of divinity with his lack of power.

Thus play I in one person many people, And none contented. Sometimes am I king. Then treasons make me wish myself a beggar, And so I am; then crushing penury Persuades me I was better when a king. Then am I kinged again, and by and by Think that I am unkinged by Bolingbroke, And straight am nothing. But whate'er I am, Nor I nor any man that but man is With nothing shall be pleased till he be eased With being nothing.

King Rich II, Richard, part of his 66-line monologue at the end of the play (twice the age of Christ... Richard thinks he's better than Christ). First two lines: back to reference of overriched by his own poetic ability from the Gardener in the emblem scene. Also many references to "I am that I am," meaning that he thinks he's Yahweh. Themes of nothingness at the end. All of this represents his unstable ricochet between perceived divinity and perceived poverty.

In winter's tedious nights sit by the fire With good old folks, and let them tell thee tales Of woeful ages long ago betid; And, ere thou bid good night, to quite their griefs, Tell thou the lamentable fall of me, And send the hearers weeping to their beds. For why the senseless brands will sympathize The heavy accent of thy moving tongue, And in compassion weep the fire out, And some will mourn in ashes, some coal-black, For the deposing of a rightful king.

King Rich II, Richard, reference to de Casibas tragedy ("Lamentable fall"), also suggests that someone deposed his rule when he deposed himself, important because he's seeking pity again and further proves him as an unstable character. Also further emphasizes his perceived divine nature because he becomes something mythic and unconstrained by time in the story of it. Ironic because we are reading a story about him, so it worked.

Part us, Northumberland, I towards the north, Where shivering cold and sickness pines the clime; My wife to France, from whence set forth in pomp She came adornèd hither like sweet May, Sent back like Hallowmas or short'st of day.

King Rich II, Richard, referencing loss of Queen and loss of time, referencing the time motif from the beginning. Important because now, at the end of the play, Richard has absolutely no control over time, just as he has absolutely no control of his kingdom or his own future death.

O villains, vipers, damned without redemption! Dogs easily won to fawn on any man! Snakes in my heart blood warmed, that sting my heart! Three Judases, each one thrice worse than Judas! Would they make peace? Terrible hell Make war upon their spotted souls for this!

King Rich II, Richard, response to learning that his allies Bushy and Greene have died: views them as traitors and himself as Jesus, 9 times worse than Judas means that Richard thinks he's 9 times better than Christ, important because Richard doesn't think he's like Christ, he thinks he is Christ and is a better Christ.

We are enforced to farm our royal realm, The revenue whereof shall furnish us For our affairs in hand. If that come short, Our substitutes at home shall have blank charters, Whereto, when they shall know what men are rich, They shall subscribe them for large sums of gold And send them after to supply our wants, For we will make for Ireland presently.

King Rich II, Richard, saying that he will give tax collectors free rein to tax nobles according to what they perceive is the maximum, important because reveals Rich lacks political sense and popularity among the people, also important because it explains why Richard takes Bolingbroke's inheritance when Gaunt dies later.

Well you deserve. They well deserve to have That know the strong'st and surest way to get.— Uncle, give me your hands. Nay, dry your eyes. Tears show their love but want their remedies.— Cousin, I am too young to be your father, Though you are old enough to be my heir. What you will have I'll give, and willing too, For do we must what force will have us do.

King Rich II, Richard, saying that the throne should be ruled by the man with the most merit, not the most royal blood. Directly questioning God's providential choice and the divinity of a monarch, continues to reinforce Rich's instability as a character because this is in direct opposition to everything else he's said so far in the play.

What must the King do now? Must he submit? The King shall do it. Must he be deposed? The King shall be contented. Must he lose The name of king? I' God's name, let it go. I'll give my jewels for a set of beads, My gorgeous palace for a hermitage, My gay apparel for an almsman's gown, My figured goblets for a dish of wood, My scepter for a palmer's walking-staff, My subjects for a pair of carvèd saints, And my large kingdom for a little grave, A little, little grave, an obscure grave; Or I'll be buried in the King's highway, Some way of common trade, where subjects' feet May hourly trample on their sovereign's head; For on my heart they tread now whilst I live And, buried once, why not upon my head?

King Rich II, Richard, says he wants to give up kingship, go to a monastery, and become a religious man, simultaneously saying that all he wants is to be a normal person and trying to get pity for the prospect of a king buried in a beggar's grave. Reinforces him as an unstable character.

Needs must I like it well. I weep for joy To stand upon my kingdom once again. Dear earth, I do salute thee with my hand, Though rebels wound thee with their horses' hoofs. As a long-parted mother with her child Plays fondly with her tears and smiles in meeting, So, weeping, smiling, greet I thee, my earth, And do thee favors with my royal hands. Feed not thy sovereign's foe, my gentle earth, Nor with thy sweets comfort his ravenous sense, But let thy spiders, that suck up thy venom, And heavy-gaited toads lie in their way, Doing annoyance to the treacherous feet Which with usurping steps do trample thee. Yield stinging nettles to mine enemies, And when they from thy bosom pluck a flower, Guard it, I pray thee, with a lurking adder, Whose double tongue may with a mortal touch Throw death upon thy sovereign's enemies. Mock not my senseless conjuration, lords. This earth shall have a feeling, and these stones Prove armèd soldiers, ere her native king Shall falter under foul rebellion's arms.

King Rich II, Richard, says that he knows of the rebellion and that all he has to do is speak and put his hand on the earth to make the earth fight for him, important because reveals Rich's perceived mystical powers over the earth and his perception of royal divinity, also important because highlights his inaction and political passivity

Ay, no; no, ay; for I must nothing be. Therefore no "no," for I resign to thee. Now, mark me how I will undo myself. I give this heavy weight from off my head And this unwieldy scepter from my hand, The pride of kingly sway from out my heart. With mine own tears I wash away my balm, With mine own hands I give away my crown, With mine own tongue deny my sacred state, With mine own breath release all duteous oaths. All pomp and majesty I do forswear. My manors, rents, revenues I forgo; My acts, decrees, and statutes I deny. God pardon all oaths that are broke to me. God keep all vows unbroke are made to thee. Make me, that nothing have, with nothing grieved, And thou with all pleased that hast all achieved. Long mayst thou live in Richard's seat to sit, And soon lie Richard in an earthy pit. God save King Henry, unkinged Richard says, And send him many years of sunshine days. What more remains?

King Rich II, Richard, the most censured part of the censured section, Richard making himself nothing, bringing himself down from divinity to lie in a human grave. Important because only a God can dispense of a monarch, so highlights Richard's lack of faith in God and belief in himself as a better Christ in the godlike ability to give away his own kingship.

Draw near, And list what with our council we have done. For that our kingdom's earth should not be soiled With that dear blood which it hath fosterèd; And for our eyes do hate the dire aspect Of civil wounds plowed up with neighbor's sword; And for we think the eagle-wingèd pride Of sky-aspiring and ambitious thoughts, With rival-hating envy, set on you To wake our peace, which in our country's cradle Draws the sweet infant breath of gentle sleep, Which, so roused up with boist'rous untuned drums, With harsh resounding trumpets' dreadful bray, And grating shock of wrathful iron arms, Might from our quiet confines fright fair peace And make us wade even in our kindred's blood: Therefore we banish you our territories.

King Rich II, Richard, this is his speech explaining why he stops the duel between Mowbray and Bolingbroke, official concern is that the duel will cause a string of duels between the families, causing unnecessary bloodshed, chooses to banish them both instead. Important because he risks his own life to interrupt a sacred ritual, insinuating that he doesn't trust in the divine proceedings and that he might be guilty of the murder himself (concern Mowbray would sell him out to save his own life in the end).

One day too late, I fear me, noble lord, Hath clouded all thy happy days on earth. O, call back yesterday, bid time return, And thou shalt have twelve thousand fighting men. Today, today, unhappy day too late, Overthrows thy joys, friends, fortune, and thy state;

King Rich II, Salisbury, Richard shows up one day too late because they thought Rich died in Ireland so they sent away the troops. Important because Gaunt said at the beginning that Rich couch can't even take away time, further reinforcing that he is not divine and does not have the power of God that he thinks he has.

Ah, Richard! With the eyes of heavy mind I see thy glory like a shooting star Fall to the base earth from the firmament. Thy sun sets weeping in the lowly west, Witnessing storms to come, woe, and unrest. Thy friends are fled to wait upon thy foes, And crossly to thy good all fortune goes.

King Rich II, Salisbury, important because example of de Casibas tragedy, which concerns the fall of kings from prosperity to adversity marked by death

Even so, or with much more contempt, men's eyes Did scowl on gentle Richard. No man cried "God save him!" No joyful tongue gave him his welcome home, But dust was thrown upon his sacred head, Which with such gentle sorrow he shook off, His face still combating with tears and smiles, The badges of his grief and patience, That had not God for some strong purpose steeled The hearts of men, they must perforce have melted, And barbarism itself have pitied him.

King Rich II, York, parallel between Richard going to his death and Christ climbing the hill to his crucifixion, Richard's face finally actually looks Christlike, irony because the only moment where his divinity is truly affirmed in the play is when he is no longer a monarch

Well, well. I see the issue of these arms. I cannot mend it, I must needs confess, Because my power is weak and all ill-left. But if I could, by Him that gave me life, I would attach you all and make you stoop Unto the sovereign mercy of the King. But since I cannot, be it known unto you I do remain as neuter. So fare you well— Unless you please to enter in the castle And there repose you for this night.

King Rich II, York, torn by loyalty to each of his nephews, causing him to invite traitor into the castle, important because example of Neoclassical Tragedy, which is when character is torn apart by being pulled by loyalties in opposite directions, Shakespeare uses this tragedy here to create a new kind of tragedy at the end of this play.

Look what I speak, my life shall prove it true: That __________ hath received eight thousand nobles In name of lendings for your Highness' soldiers, The which he hath detained for lewd employments, Like a false traitor and injurious villain. Besides I say, and will in battle prove, Or here or elsewhere to the furthest verge That ever was surveyed by English eye, That all the treasons for these eighteen years Complotted and contrivèd in this land Fetch from false _________ their first head and spring. Further I say, and further will maintain Upon his bad life to make all this good, That he did plot the Duke of Gloucester's death, Suggest his soon-believing adversaries, And consequently, like a traitor coward, Sluiced out his innocent soul through streams of blood, Which blood, like sacrificing Abel's, cries Even from the tongueless caverns of the earth To me for justice and rough chastisement. And, by the glorious worth of my descent, This arm shall do it, or this life be spent.

King Richard II, Bolingbroke, important because it explains Bolingbroke's reasoning for challenging Mowbray to a duel: (1) kept Richard's money, (2) root source of all treason for the past 18 years, (3) plot and enact murder of Duke of Gloucester also important because it acknowledges God as the judge of combat, that the innocent will win and the guilty will die. alludes to Cain and Abel, which comes again at the end of the play, bookending the play in a story about brother killing brother out of jealousy

They are. And Bolingbroke Hath seized the wasteful king. O, what pity is it That he had not so trimmed and dressed his land As we this garden! We at time of year Do wound the bark, the skin of our fruit trees, Lest, being overproud in sap and blood, With too much riches it confound itself. Had he done so to great and growing men, They might have lived to bear and he to taste Their fruits of duty. Superfluous branches We lop away, that bearing boughs may live. Had he done so, himself had borne the crown, Which waste of idle hours hath quite thrown down.

King Richard II, Gardener, continues emblematic scene and nature imagery of garden as gov't and Richard as a bad gardener, also suggested that Richard is overriched by his own abilities, especially his own poetic abilities, creating a sense of foreboding in the concept that too much riches/sap kills the tree.

What time o' day? The hour that fools should ask. Now fair befall your mask! Fair fall the face it covers! And send you many lovers! Amen, so you be none. Nay, then will I be gone.

Love's Labor's Lost, Biron and Rosalind, women wear masks outside to preserve their beauty from tan, he wants to see her face and she says men's love is superficial, that they can't love what's within (also the first time the two of them speak)

"And I, forsooth, in love! I, that have been love's whip; A very beadle to a humorous sigh; A critic, nay, a night-watch constable; A domineering pedant o'er the boy; Than whom no mortal so magnificent! This whimpled, whining, purblind, wayward boy; This senior-junior, giant-dwarf, Dan Cupid; Regent of love-rhymes, lord of folded arms, The anointed sovereign of sighs and groans, Liege of all loiterers and malcontents, Dread prince of plackets, king of codpieces, Sole imperator and great general Of trotting 'paritors:--O my little heart:-- And I to be a corporal of his field, And wear his colours like a tumbler's hoop! What, I! I love! I sue! I seek a wife! A woman, that is like a German clock, Still a-repairing, ever out of frame, And never going aright, being a watch, But being watch'd that it may still go right! Nay, to be perjured, which is worst of all; And, among three, to love the worst of all; A wightly wanton with a velvet brow, With two pitch-balls stuck in her face for eyes; Ay, and by heaven, one that will do the deed Though Argus were her eunuch and her guard: And I to sigh for her! to watch for her! To pray for her! Go to; it is a plague That Cupid will impose for my neglect Of his almighty dreadful little might. Well, I will love, write, sigh, pray, sue and groan: Some men must love my lady and some Joan."

Love's Labor's Lost, Biron, Biron's first statement of love about Rosalind, this is the one where he's calling her ugly and base but he can't help but be in love with her. Talks of her dark complexion... which could be a reference to Shakespeare's dark-complected lover

"Necessity will make us all forsworn Three thousand times within this three years' space; For every man with his affects is born, Not by might master'd but by special grace: If I break faith, this word shall speak for me; I am forsworn on 'mere necessity.'"

Love's Labor's Lost, Biron, important because he's saying what they're doing is futile, that you control passions not through will but through the grace of God alone

"The king he is hunting the deer; I am coursing myself: they have pitched a toil; I am toiling in a pitch,--pitch that defiles: defile! a foul word. Well, set thee down, sorrow! for so they say the fool said, and so say I, and I the fool: well proved, wit! By the Lord, this love is as mad as Ajax: it kills sheep; it kills me, I a sheep: well proved again o' my side! I will not love: if I do, hang me; i' faith, I will not. O, but her eye,--by this light, but for her eye, I would not love her; yes, for her two eyes. Well, I do nothing in the world but lie, and lie in my throat. By heaven, I do love: and it hath taught me to rhyme and to be melancholy; and here is part of my rhyme, and here my melancholy."

Love's Labor's Lost, Biron, toiling against his love for her, "only love can inspire a poet to write good poetry" further supports that he is infatuated with her.

"On a day--alack the day!-- Love, whose month is ever May, Spied a blossom passing fair Playing in the wanton air: Through the velvet leaves the wind, All unseen, can passage find; That the lover, sick to death, Wish himself the heaven's breath. Air, quoth he, thy cheeks may blow; Air, would I might triumph so! But, alack, my hand is sworn Ne'er to pluck thee from thy thorn; Vow, alack, for youth unmeet, Youth so apt to pluck a sweet! Do not call it sin in me, That I am forsworn for thee; Thou for whom Jove would swear Juno but an Ethiope were; And deny himself for Jove, Turning mortal for thy love. This will I send, and something else more plain, That shall express my true love's fasting pain. O, would the king, Biron, and Longaville, Were lovers too! Ill, to example ill, Would from my forehead wipe a perjured note; For none offend where all alike do dote."

Love's Labor's Lost, Dumaine to Katherine, short, not particular memorable, not even a sonnet (technically an ode). Infatuation not love.

"The deer was, as you know, sanguis, in blood; ripe as the pomewater, who now hangeth like a jewel in the ear of caelo, the sky, the welkin, the heaven; and anon falleth like a crab on the face of terra, the soil, the land, the earth."

Love's Labor's Lost, Holofernes, important because it contributes to the theme of LLL as a play about language, also multiple uses of Latin reveal Holofernes immediately as vain, pompous, and self-righteous in his own learning. Contrasts an actual learned man who's insufferable against the type of scholarship the king and lords are seeking for fame

"So sweet a kiss the golden sun gives not To those fresh morning drops upon the rose, As thy eye-beams, when their fresh rays have smote The night of dew that on my cheeks down flows: Nor shines the silver moon one half so bright Through the transparent bosom of the deep, As doth thy face through tears of mine give light; Thou shinest in every tear that I do weep: No drop but as a coach doth carry thee; So ridest thou triumphing in my woe. Do but behold the tears that swell in me, And they thy glory through my grief will show: But do not love thyself; then thou wilt keep My tears for glasses, and still make me weep. O queen of queens! how far dost thou excel, No thought can think, nor tongue of mortal tell. How shall she know my griefs? I'll drop the paper: Sweet leaves, shade folly. Who is he comes here?"

Love's Labor's Lost, King of Navarre to Princess of France, 16 lines in iambic pentameter (failed sonnet), better lyrically than Biron but WAY overdone, gets carried away with his imagery (esp. tear imagery). reveals his love for her to be silly, not real.

"Let fame, that all hunt after in their lives, Live registered upon our brazen tombs, And then grace us in the disgrace of death When, spite of cormorant devouring Time, Th'endeavor of this present breath may buy That honor which shall bate his scythe's keen edge And make us heirs of all eternity. Therefore, brave conquerors- for so you are, That war against your own affections And the huge army of the world's desires- Our late edict shall strongly stand in force."

Love's Labor's Lost, King of Navarre, beginning of play, sets up the reasoning behind the oath (to gain undying fame by gaining knowledge as scholars)

"Did not the heavenly rhetoric of thine eye, 'Gainst whom the world cannot hold argument, Persuade my heart to this false perjury? Vows for thee broke deserve not punishment. A woman I forswore; but I will prove, Thou being a goddess, I forswore not thee: My vow was earthly, thou a heavenly love; Thy grace being gain'd cures all disgrace in me. Vows are but breath, and breath a vapour is: Then thou, fair sun, which on my earth dost shine, Exhalest this vapour-vow; in thee it is: If broken then, it is no fault of mine: If by me broke, what fool is not so wise To lose an oath to win a paradise?"

Love's Labor's Lost, Longueville to Maria, not a great sonnet, further reinforces that all the men are infatuated and breaking their oaths too quickly

"Sir, he hath never fed of the dainties that are bred in a book; he hath not eat paper, as it were; he hath not drunk ink: his intellect is not replenished; he is only an animal, only sensible in the duller parts: And such barren plants are set before us, that we thankful should be, Which we of taste and feeling are, for those parts that do fructify in us more than he."

Love's Labor's Lost, Nathaniel, contributes to the theme of fertility vs barrenness, speaking about Dull, superiority of knowledge within the play

"Good Lord _______, my beauty, though but mean, Needs not the painted flourish of your praise: Beauty is bought by judgement of the eye, Not utter'd by base sale of chapmen's tongues: I am less proud to hear you tell my worth Than you much willing to be counted wise In spending your wit in the praise of mine."

Love's Labor's Lost, Princess of France, establishes her character is unimpressed by flattery, modest, not vain, and honest

"See see, my beauty will be saved by merit! O heresy in fair, fit for these days! A giving hand, though foul, shall have fair praise. But come, the bow: now mercy goes to kill, And shooting well is then accounted ill. Thus will I save my credit in the shoot: Not wounding, pity would not let me do't; If wounding, then it was to show my skill, That more for praise than purpose meant to kill. And out of question so it is sometimes, Glory grows guilty of detested crimes, When, for fame's sake, for praise, an outward part, We bend to that the working of the heart; As I for praise alone now seek to spill The poor deer's blood, that my heart means no ill."

Love's Labor's Lost, Princess of France, she's hunting with her ladies and the forester and makes this statement before Costard enters with Don Armado's letter to Jaquenette. This is important because it shows her as a woman of integrity, that she doesn't want to kill so brutally just for other people to praise her.

"If love make me forsworn, how shall I swear to love? Ah, never faith could hold, if not to beauty vow'd! Though to myself forsworn, to thee I'll faithful prove: Those thoughts to me were oaks, to thee like osiers bow'd. Study his bias leaves and makes his book thine eyes, Where all those pleasures live that art would comprehend: If knowledge be the mark, to know thee shall suffice; Well learned is that tongue that well can thee commend, All ignorant that soul that sees thee without wonder; Which is to me some praise that I thy parts admire: Thy eye Jove's lightning bears, thy voice his dreadful thunder, Which not to anger bent, is music and sweet fire. Celestial as thou art, O, pardon, love, this wrong, That sings heaven's praise with such an earthly tongue."

Love's Labor's Lost, written by Biron for Rosalind, read by Nathaniel. Shakespeare sonnet rhyme scheme, rationalizes breaking his oath because of this love for her, not very lyrical poem in order to communicate Biron is infatuated, not in love.

"'By heaven, that thou art fair, is most infallible; true, that thou art beauteous; truth itself, that thou art lovely. More fairer than fair, beautiful than beauteous, truer than truth itself, have commiseration on thy heroical vassal! The magnanimous and most illustrate king Cophetua set eye upon the pernicious and indubitate beggar Zenelophon; and he it was that might rightly say, Veni, vidi, vici; which to annothanize in the vulgar,--O base and obscure vulgar!--videlicet, He came, saw, and overcame: he came, one; saw two; overcame, three. Who came? the king: why did he come? to see: why did he see? to overcome: to whom came he? to the beggar: what saw he? the beggar: who overcame he? the beggar. The conclusion is victory: on whose side? the king's. The captive is enriched: on whose side? the beggar's. The catastrophe is a nuptial: on whose side? the king's: no, on both in one, or one in both. I am the king; for so stands the comparison: thou the beggar; for so witnesseth thy lowliness. Shall I command thy love? I may: shall I enforce thy love? I could: shall I entreat thy love? I will. What shalt thou exchange for rags? robes; for tittles? titles; for thyself? me. Thus, expecting thy reply, I profane my lips on thy foot, my eyes on thy picture. and my heart on thy every part.'"

Love's Labor's Lost, written by Don Armado to Jaquenetta, read by Boyet. reinforces him once again as insufferable, especially because Jaquenetta doesn't like him. theme of unavoidable nature of love, that though he degrades himself by loving her, he can not help but love her. also theme of class distinction, specifically because Armado is upper class but lacks knowledge and common sense.

Thus pour the stars down plagues for perjury. Can any face of brass hold longer out? Here stand I lady, dart thy skill at me; Bruise me with scorn, confound me with a flout; Thrust thy sharp wit quite through my ignorance; Cut me to pieces with thy keen conceit; And I will wish thee never more to dance, Nor never more in Russian habit wait. O, never will I trust to speeches penn'd, Nor to the motion of a schoolboy's tongue, Nor never come in vizard to my friend, Nor woo in rhyme, like a blind harper's song! Taffeta phrases, silken terms precise, Three-piled hyperboles, spruce affectation, Figures pedantical; these summer-flies Have blown me full of maggot ostentation: I do forswear them; and I here protest, By this white glove;--how white the hand, God knows!-- Henceforth my wooing mind shall be express'd In russet yeas and honest kersey noes: And, to begin, wench,--so God help me, la!-- My love to thee is sound, sans crack or flaw.

Love's Labour's Lost, Biron, giving up literature and poetry because he has made a fool of himself like Don Armado

Neither of either; I remit both twain. I see the trick on't: here was a consent, Knowing aforehand of our merriment, To dash it like a Christmas comedy: Some carry-tale, some please-man, some slight zany, Some mumble-news, some trencher-knight, some Dick, That smiles his cheek in years and knows the trick To make my lady laugh when she's disposed, Told our intents before; which once disclosed, The ladies did change favours: and then we, Following the signs, woo'd but the sign of she. Now, to our perjury to add more terror, We are again forsworn, in will and error. Much upon this it is: and might not you [To _________] Forestall our sport, to make us thus untrue? Do not you know my lady's foot by the squier, And laugh upon the apple of her eye? And stand between her back, sir, and the fire, Holding a trencher, jesting merrily? You put our page out: go, you are allow'd; Die when you will, a smock shall be your shroud. You leer upon me, do you? there's an eye Wounds like a leaden sword.

Love's Labour's Lost, Biron, important because he takes anger out on Boyet because he can't take it out on women, also parallel to the title because men's labor on the play lost in execution and men's labors of love for these women lost at the end.

Honest plain words best pierce the ear of grief; And by these badges understand the king. For your fair sakes have we neglected time, Play'd foul play with our oaths: your beauty, ladies, Hath much deform'd us, fashioning our humours Even to the opposed end of our intents: And what in us hath seem'd ridiculous,-- As love is full of unbefitting strains, All wanton as a child, skipping and vain, Form'd by the eye and therefore, like the eye, Full of strange shapes, of habits and of forms, Varying in subjects as the eye doth roll To every varied object in his glance: Which parti-coated presence of loose love Put on by us, if, in your heavenly eyes, Have misbecomed our oaths and gravities, Those heavenly eyes, that look into these faults, Suggested us to make. Therefore, ladies, Our love being yours, the error that love makes Is likewise yours: we to ourselves prove false, By being once false for ever to be true To those that make us both,--fair ladies, you: And even that falsehood, in itself a sin, Thus purifies itself and turns to grace.

Love's Labour's Lost, Biron, important because it blames the women for making them fall in love with them, saying that they have to stay because this love is their fault. Further reinforces that men never loved the women.

"You found his mote; the King your mote did see; But I a beam do find in each of three. O, what a scene of fool'ry have I seen, Of sighs, of groans, of sorrow, and of teen! O me, with what strict patience have I sat, To see a king transformèd to a gnat! To see great Hercules whipping a gig, And profound Solomon to tune a jig, And Nestor play at pushpin with the boys, And critic Timon laugh at idle toys. Where lies thy grief, O tell me, good _________? And gentle ________, where lies thy pain? And where my liege's? All about the breast! A caudle, ho!

Love's Labour's Lost, Biron, irony because he chastises them for falling in love when he is in love, he chastises them for a regression to the foolishness of childhood, referencing the theme of infancy throughout the play.

And where that you have vow'd to study, lords, In that each of you have forsworn his book, Can you still dream and pore and thereon look?For when would you, my lord, or you, or you, Have found the ground of study's excellence Without the beauty of a woman's face? From women's eyes this doctrine I derive; They are the ground, the books, the academes From whence doth spring the true Promethean fire

Love's Labour's Lost, Biron, part of his long soliloquy in Act 4 after the four men learn they are all in love, important because knowledge only comes from love of a woman, superiority of knowledge, contrasting knowledge by experience and knowledge by academics

For valour, is not Love a Hercules, Still climbing trees in the Hesperides? Subtle as Sphinx; as sweet and musical As bright Apollo's lute, strung with his hair: And when Love speaks, the voice of all the gods Makes heaven drowsy with the harmony. Never durst poet touch a pen to write Until his ink were temper'd with Love's sighs; O, then his lines would ravish savage ears And plant in tyrants mild humility. From women's eyes this doctrine I derive: They sparkle still the right Promethean fire; They are the books, the arts, the academes, That show, contain and nourish all the world: Else none at all in ought proves excellent. Then fools you were these women to forswear, Or keeping what is sworn, you will prove fools. For wisdom's sake, a word that all men love, Or for love's sake, a word that loves all men, Or for men's sake, the authors of these women, Or women's sake, by whom we men are men, Let us once lose our oaths to find ourselves, Or else we lose ourselves to keep our oaths. It is religion to be thus forsworn, For charity itself fulfills the law, And who can sever love from charity?

Love's Labour's Lost, Biron, part of his very long soliloquy in Act 4 after the four men learn they are all in love, reference again to profound knowledge through love, main point of the full soliloquy is "let us once lose our oaths to find ourselves,/ Or else we lose ourselves to keep our oaths."

The tongues of mocking wenches are as keen As is the razor's edge invisible, Cutting a smaller hair than may be seen, Above the sense of sense; so sensible Seemeth their conference; their conceits have wings Fleeter than arrows, bullets, wind, thought, swifter things.

Love's Labour's Lost, Boyet, direct reference to the tension in the play between the ideal woman and the witty and sharp women that remain love interests of the play. possible nod to Shakespeare's daughter ("witty beyond a woman")

The extreme parts of time extremely forms All causes to the purpose of his speed, And often at his very loose decides That which long process could not arbitrate: And though the mourning brow of progeny Forbid the smiling courtesy of love The holy suit which fain it would convince, Yet, since love's argument was first on foot, Let not the cloud of sorrow justle it From what it purposed; since, to wail friends lost Is not by much so wholesome-profitable As to rejoice at friends but newly found.

Love's Labour's Lost, King, telling her not to cry for her friend (her father who's just died) but to rejoice in making a new friend like himself, further reinforces that the men never truly loved the women

Prepare, I say. I thank you, gracious lords, For all your fair endeavors; and entreat, Out of a new-sad soul, that you vouchsafe In your rich wisdom to excuse or hide The liberal opposition of our spirits, If over-boldly we have borne ourselves In the converse of breath: your gentleness Was guilty of it. Farewell worthy lord! A heavy heart bears not a nimble tongue: Excuse me so, coming too short of thanks For my great suit so easily obtain'd.

Love's Labour's Lost, Princess (now Queen), acknowledges their language and says that if they overstepped in their jesting, the men's courtesy gave them the ability to do so. This is important because she's leaving and cutting ties while also acknowledging the importance of language throughout the play

You nickname virtue; vice you should have spoke; For virtue's office never breaks men's troth. Now by my maiden honour, yet as pure As the unsullied lily, I protest, A world of torments though I should endure, I would not yield to be your house's guest; So much I hate a breaking cause to be Of heavenly oaths, vow'd with integrity.

Love's Labour's Lost, Princess, high value the women place in oaths, lack of respect for the men

Nay, my good lord, let me o'errule you now: That sport best pleases that doth least know how: Where zeal strives to content, and the contents Dies in the zeal of that which it presents: Their form confounded makes most form in mirth, When great things labouring perish in their birth.

Love's Labour's Lost, Princess, important because making fun of men because they want to be perfect lovers and view themselves as such but have utterly failed... decline from heroic to infantile

A time, methinks, too short To make a world-without-end bargain in. No, no, my lord, your grace is perjured much, Full of dear guiltiness; and therefore this: If for my love, as there is no such cause, You will do aught, this shall you do for me: Your oath I will not trust; but go with speed To some forlorn and naked hermitage Remote from all the pleasures of the world; There stay until the twelve celestial signs Have brought about the annual reckoning. If this austere insociable life Change not your offer made in heat of blood; If frosts and fasts, hard lodging and thin weeds Nip not the gaudy blossoms of your love, But that it bear this trial and last love; Then, at the expiration of the year, Come challenge me, challenge me by these deserts, And, by this virgin palm now kissing thine I will be thine; and till that instant shut My woeful self up in a mourning house, Raining the tears of lamentation For the remembrance of my father's death. If this thou do deny, let our hands part, Neither entitled in the other's heart.

Love's Labour's Lost, Princess/Queen, important because it is the Princess' labor to the kind to become a monk and keep his original oath for a year, saying she'll take him then if he still loves her. This is important because it highlights the importance of keeping oaths to the women and highlights the King's infatuation instead of love because the odds of him actually doing this for her are so slim.

Why, that's the way to choke a gibing spirit, Whose influence is begot of that loose grace Which shallow laughing hearers give to fools: A jest's prosperity lies in the ear Of him that hears it, never in the tongue Of him that makes it: then, if sickly ears, Deaf'd with the clamours of their own dear groans, Will hear your idle scorns, continue then, And I will have you and that fault withal; But if they will not, throw away that spirit, And I shall find you empty of that fault, Right joyful of your reformation.

Love's Labour's Lost, Rosaline, theory of comedy: jest is funny not by the speaker but by the listener, reinforces play's theme of language and of the fact that Biron isn't actually in love with her