A note from Mr. William Shakespeare



I am not a big fan of copy and paste blogging, but I was reading Shakespeare the other night, and came across this speech in the last part that I found interesting. I love Shakespeare.
Enjoy.

KATHERINA:
Fie, fie! unknit that threatening unkind brow,
And dart not scornful glances from those eyes
To wound thy lord, thy king, thy governor:
It blots thy beauty as frosts do bite the meads,
Confounds thy fame as whirlwinds shake fair buds,
And in no sense is meet or amiable.
A woman mov'd is like a fountain troubled,
Muddy, ill-seeming, thick, bereft of beauty;
And while it is so, none so dry or thirsty
Will deign to sip or touch one drop of it.
Thy husband is thy lord, thy life, thy keeper,
Thy head, thy sovereign; one that cares for thee,
And for thy maintenance commits his body
To painful labour both by sea and land,
To watch the night in storms, the day in cold,
Whilst thou liest warm at home, secure and safe;
And craves no other tribute at thy hands
But love, fair looks, and true obedience;
Too little payment for so great a debt.
Such duty as the subject owes the prince,
Even such a woman oweth to her husband;
And when she is froward, peevish, sullen, sour,
And not obedient to his honest will,
What is she but a foul contending rebel
And graceless traitor to her loving lord?—
I am asham'd that women are so simple
To offer war where they should kneel for peace,
Or seek for rule, supremacy, and sway,
When they are bound to serve, love, and obey.
Why are our bodies soft and weak and smooth,
Unapt to toll and trouble in the world,
But that our soft conditions and our hearts
Should well agree with our external parts?
Come, come, you froward and unable worms!
My mind hath been as big as one of yours,
My heart as great, my reason haply more,
To bandy word for word and frown for frown;
But now I see our lances are but straws,
Our strength as weak, our weakness past compare,
That seeming to be most which we indeed least are.
Then vail your stomachs, for it is no boot,
And place your hands below your husband's foot.

I took this from Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew, the last act.

Yall have a good week,

Tracy

Comments

  1. I took highschool drama, and this was the soliloquy that I was assigned. At the time it was just and assignment and I never really thought about the significance of the words. Who knew so many years later it would come back to me, yet with pure meaning that hits so close to the nerve.

    God is good, but you knew that.

    Thank you for the blast from the past, and prayerful hope for the future.

    ReplyDelete
  2. A hit to the heart of this once raised feminist.

    Thanks so much for sharing.

    ReplyDelete

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