My mistress's eyes

[cyrano]

So it's not Friday yet but here I am asking questions.
I have this character who tends to quote Shakespeare during his psychopathic episodes. (He was raised in a basement. There were a lot of books, and not much else.)
I'm trying to build a nice stable of references that I can draw on to use without having to hunt through Bartlett's or having to rely on just having read Antony and Cleopatra and remembering the perfect line I just heard. So I'm coming to you, my LJ braintrust, and asking for your contributions. In retrospect, I have quite a few, but I'm always interested in others' perspective. (If you would, quote me the play so that I can find the reference and get some context.)


Shake not thy gorey locks at me.
Screw your courage to the sticking point.
Nothing in his life became him like... the leaving of it.
Cowards die many times before their death.
Out, out, brief candle.
The lady doth protest too much.
There's the rub.
Our little life is rounded by a sleep.
Were it not that I had bad dreams.
A hit. A very... palpable hit.
Dead for a ducat.
There's nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.
Dogs bark at me as I halt by them.
I am fortune's fool.
True apothecary, thy drugs are quick.
I am determined to prove a villain.
My kingdom for a horse.
Thus I clothe my naked villainy.
So wise so young, they say do never live long.
I have done no more to Caesar than you shall do to Brutus.
I am constant as the northern star.
When beggars die, there are no comets seen.
Think him as a serpent's egg. // Kill him in the shell.
Cry havok, and let slip the dogs of war.
Pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth.
Men at some time are masters of their fates.
What's past is prologue.
Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks.
As flies to wanton boys.
Not so unkind as man's ingratitude.
Though this be madness, yet there is method in't.
One may smile, and smile, and be a villain.
Let's away to prison.
He's mad that trusts in the tameness of a wolf.
The portrait of a blinking idiot.

Comments

[carabosse.livejournal.com]

I'd say pillage from "Titus Andronicus". I love that play. :-) I'd give you quotes right now, but I don't want to misremember them... So, um, I will reply later. I just wanted to let you know I was thinking.

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

Yay thinking! And I love Titus too. Well. I love Aaron.

[carabosse.livejournal.com]

I love Aaron, I rather like Tamora, and I think that Chiron and Demetrius are kinda cute even though they are evil.

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

And I became far more fond of the play when I saw Julie Taymore's film.

[carabosse.livejournal.com]

I originally read the play because I'd seen mention somewhere that it was basically Shakespeare splatterpunk. Then came the movie, and I was completely won over.

QUOTES (without proper citation)
"These words are razors to my wounded heart." Titus, 1:1, 328

"Thy years wants wit, thy wits wants edge." ("Demetrius) Titus, 2:1, 26

"What you cannot as you would achieve, you must perforce accomplish as you may." (Aaron) Titus, 2:1, 118

"Vengeance is in my heart, death in my hand, Blood and revenge are hammering in my head." (Aaron) Titus, 2:3, 38

"The worse to her, the better loved of me." (Tamora) Titus, 2:3, 175

"If I must die, I will encounter darkness as a bride, and hug it in mine arms." (Claudio) Measure for Measure, 3:1, 95

"Angels are bright still, though the brightest fell." (Malcolm) Macbeth, 4:3. 25

"Well said! That was laid on with a trowel." (Celia) As You Like It, 1:2. 102

"I can suck melancholy out of a song as a weasel sucks eggs." (Jaques) As You Like It, 2:5, 11

"Men have died from time to time, and worms have eaten them, but not for love." (Rosalind) As You Like It, 4:1, 101

[roisnoir.livejournal.com]

Pretty much anything Beatrice says to or about Benedict in Much Ado About Nothing is good. :)

I wish I still had my notes from a class I took ("Witches, Bitches, Virgins and Whores - Women in Shakespeare") - there were all sorts of wonderful quotes the professor picked out.

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I love those two. And it's entirely possible I could find occasion for my murderous psychopath to use some of their lines.

[jakejr.livejournal.com]

No time to hunt them down, but every time I see my beloved Twelfth Night, I am reminded all over again just how many truly great (and oft-used) quotes that one has. If you're looking for things to browse in the meantime...

[zdashamber.livejournal.com]

I like the "I am bitter as wormwood and talking myself into horrible things" bits best of all...

The noble Brutus hath told you Caesar was ambitious: if it were so, it was a grievous fault; and grievously hath Caesar answer'd it.

For Brutus is an honourable man; so are they all, all honorable men...

I saved a whole list from Othello:

We cannot all be masters, nor all masters
Cannot be truly follow'd.

Here's a lovely bit of Iago talking that sounds appropriate to your fellow, Act 1 scene ii:

Though in the trade of war I have slain men,
Yet do I hold it very stuff o' the conscience
To do no contriv'd murder.

O, I see that nose of yours, but not that dog I shall throw it to.
--Othello, act 4, scene i

But why should honour outlive honesty?
Let it go all.
--Othello, act 5, scene ii

[lil-braw.livejournal.com]

"...That many things, having full reference
To one constant, may work contrariously:
As many arrows, loosed several ways,
Come to one mark; as many ways meet in one town;
As many fresh streams meet in one salt sea;
As many lines close in the dial's centre;
So may a thousand actions, once a-foot,
End in one purpose, and be all well borne
Without defeat."

[darth-snarky.livejournal.com]

"He thinks too much: such men are dangerous."

"Oh judgement, thou art fled to brutish beasts
And men have lost their reason! Bear with me..."*

"I dreamt a dream last night." "And so did I."
"And what was yours?" "That dreamers often lie."
"In bed asleep, where they do dream things true."
"Oh, then I see Queen Mab hath been with you..."

"I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound."*

And some quotes from Lear would definitely work, though I can't remember any off the top of my head.

*I can recite this whole speech from memory, if you want.
*Same with this sonnet

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I love that sonnet. (:
(Hrm.... He's not much for speeches but I can drop in "Dreamers often lie.")
Yeah, I drew a lot from Richard III because he's who the character was based on, but Hamlet and MacBeth and Julius Caesar were all goldmines, and Lear is good too. I've got a couple up there, but there are many more.
As flies to wanton boys
Let's away to prison
He's mad that trusts in the tameness of the wolf.
You are not worth the dust which the rude wind blows in your face
Come not between the Dragon and his wrath
Now, gods, stand up for bastards
Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks
I am bound upon a wheel of fire
My cue is villainous melancholy
That way, madness lies

Now look at that--the wealth you've provided me with. (:

[handworn.livejournal.com]

"Thou wert better in a grave than to answer with thy uncovered body this extremity of the skies."

-- King Lear