Lowlife character Quotes Flashcards
Lucio calls Madam Overdone
‘Madam…
Mitigation.’
Madam as a prostitute and she helps to mitigate the pangs of desire. A mock title
Lucio about Mistress Overdone
‘I have purchased many …
‘I have purchased many diseases under her roof’
STI’s a big problem at this time, spread though prostitutes
Mistress Overdone and Pompey having a conversation about Claudio
MO: Well what has he done?
P: A woman.
MO: But what’s his offence
P: Groping for trouts in a peculiar river
MO: What is there a maid with child by him?
P: No, but there’s a woman with maid by him.
- Groping for trout in a peculiar river: A Shakespearean joke used in Measure for Measure, where groping describes a method of fishing by feeling for them in the water with the hands; peculiar was already in use to describe a mistress, much in the same way a cat or an owl might be a witch’s peculiar.
Pompey- sexual jokes
- Groping for trout in a peculiar river: A Shakespearean joke used in Measure for Measure, where groping describes a method of fishing by feeling for them in the water with the hands; peculiar was already in use to describe a mistress, much in the same way a cat or an owl might be a witch’s peculiar.
Context:
The phrase appears in Act 1, Scene 2 of Measure for Measure.
Characters:
Pompey, a character in the play, is describing the offense of a man who is being taken to prison.
Meaning:
“Groping for trouts in a peculiar river” is a euphemism or a veiled way of saying that the man is involved in some kind of sexual misconduct or illicit activity.
Further Dialogue:
The Bawd, another character, asks if there is a maid with child by him, to which Pompey replies “No, but there’s a woman with maid by him”. This suggests that the man’s actions are not just about “groping” for trouts but also involve a woman.
Interpretation:
The phrase is meant to be humorous and suggestive, hinting at a man’s inappropriate behavior, but without explicitly stating what it is.
Shakespearean Humor:
Shakespeare often used such veiled language and suggestive phrases to create humor and intrigue in his plays.
Pompey
‘All houses…
in the suburbs of Vienna must be plucked down.’
It’s a line spoken by the character Pompey in Act 1, Scene 2, when he explains a new decree to Mistress Overdone. The decree is part of Angelo’s strict enforcement of laws against fornication and other immoral acts
Full: All houses in the suburbs of Vienna must be plucked down. And what shall become of those in the city? They shall stand for seed: they had gone down too, but that a wise burgher put in for them.
This mimics a law James 1 put out but that was to stop plague not prostitution
How does Lucio greet Isabella?
‘Hail, virgin, if you be, as those cheek-roses
Proclaim you are no less!’
inappropriate to a nun, sexual Lucio
Context and Translation: Act 1 Scene 4
LUCIO
Hail, virgin, if you be, as those cheek-roses
Proclaim you are no less! Can you so stead me
As bring me to the sight of Isabella,
A novice of this place and the fair sister
To her unhappy brother Claudio?
LUCIO
Greetings, virgin—if you are one, since those rosy cheeks show you’re nothing less! Can you help me out by bringing me to Isabella, a novice here and the pretty sister of her unlucky brother Claudio?
ISABELLA
Why “her unhappy brother?” let me ask,
The rather for I now must make you know
I am that Isabella and his sister.
ISABELLA
Why “her unlucky brother?” I have to ask, and now I should let you know that I am Isabella, his sister.
How does Lucio assure Isabella that he is serious/truthful about Claudio’s arrest (lapwings and saints)
’ ‘tis my familiar sin to seem the lapwing and to jest, tongue far from heart, play with all virgins so. I hold you as a thing enskied and sainted, By your renouncement an immortal spirit, And to be talked with in sincerity, As with a saint.’
lapwings and proverbial for deceit and hypocrisy as they can deceive predators
Full Context and Translation: Act 1 Scene 4
LUCIO
For that which, if myself might be his judge,
He should receive his punishment in thanks:
He hath got his friend with child.
LUCIO
For that which, if I were his judge, his only punishment would be congratulations. He got his girlfriend pregnant.
ISABELLA
Sir, make me not your story.
ISABELLA
Sir, you’re making this up.
LUCIO
It is true.
I would not—though ‘tis my familiar sin
With maids to seem the lapwing and to jest,
Tongue far from heart—play with all virgins so:
I hold you as a thing ensky’d and sainted.
By your renouncement an immortal spirit,
And to be talk’d with in sincerity,
As with a saint.
LUCIO
It’s true. Though I’m often prone to run around and joke with girls, not meaning what I say, I wouldn’t play with all virgins that way. To me, you’re like an angel in the sky. By taking your vows, you’re an immortal spirit to have serious conversations with, like with a saint.
ISABELLA
You do blaspheme the good in mocking me.
ISABELLA
You’re blaspheming good Christians by mocking me.
How does Lucio metaphorically describe Claudio impregnating Julietta?
Lucio delivering the news to Isabella of Claudio’s imprisonment
‘her plenteous womb
Expresseth his full tilth and husbandry’
using farming metaphors, tilth means ploughing (sexual connotations. husbandry is a play on words, means both cultivation of soil and behaviour of a husband
Context and Translation: Act 1 Scene 4
LUCIO
Do not believe it. Fewness and truth, ‘tis thus:
Your brother and his lover have embraced:
As those that feed grow full, as blossoming time
That from the seedness the bare fallow brings
To teeming foison, even so her plenteous womb
Expresseth his full tilth and husbandry.
LUCIO
No, not at all! Truth be told, this is it: your brother and his girlfriend have had sex. Just like people who eat get full and seeds at springtime grow from bare soil into blossoming plants, her fertile womb reflects his full cultivation and husbandry.
What does Lucio say to Isabella about Liberty with mice and lions?
Explaining why Claudio was imprisoned in 1,4
He—to give fear to use and liberty,
Which have for long run by the hideous law,
As mice by lions—hath pick’d out an act
The quote “liberty, which have for long run by the hideous law, as mice by lions” comes from Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure, Act 1, Scene 4. It is spoken by Lucio, and he is referring to how freedom and the law have previously been a battle of power, with freedom being chased like mice by the lions of the law
Thus proceeds to explain that Angelo ‘hath pick’d out an act, Under whose heavy sense your brother’s life Falls into forfeit: he arrests him on it; And follows close the rigour of the statute, To make him an example
C & T (1,4)
He—to give fear to use and liberty,
Which have for long run by the hideous law,
As mice by lions—hath pick’d out an act,
Under whose heavy sense your brother’s life
Falls into forfeit: he arrests him on it;
And follows close the rigour of the statute,
To make him an example.
To scare those of us who have gotten used to being free and doing what we please despite the horrible laws, like mice scared by lions—Angelo has picked out an act—fornication—of which your brother is convicted and sentenced cruelly to death. He arrested him for it, and is following the letter of the law closely to make an example of him
What does Lucio say about Angelo making Claudio an example?
Angelo ‘follows close the rigour of the statute to make him an example’
What does Lucio say to convince Isabella to go to Angelo?
when maidens sue,
Men give like gods; but when they weep and kneel,
All their petitions are as freely theirs
As they themselves would owe them.
1,4
LUCIO
Assay the power you have.
LUCIO
Use all the power you have.
ISABELLA
My power? Alas, I doubt—
ISABELLA
My power? Oh, no, I doubt—
LUCIO
Our doubts are traitors
And make us lose the good we oft might win
By fearing to attempt. Go to Lord Angelo,
And let him learn to know, when maidens sue,
Men give like gods; but when they weep and kneel,
All their petitions are as freely theirs
As they themselves would owe them.
LUCIO
Our doubts betray us. They make us lose the prize we might otherwise win by convincing us not to try. Go to Lord Angelo, and make him understand: when young girls make requests, men give like gods. But when girls cry and grovel, men grant their wishes as quickly as if the men owed them in the first place.
What Elbow quote is a good example of misplacing?
Elbow: I bring in here before your honour two notorious benefactors.
Angelo: Benefactors? Well, what benefactors are they? Are they not malefactors?
What joke does Pompey make about stewed prunes?
says Elbow’s wife is ‘longing’ for ‘stewed prunes’
stewed prunes were recommended to those who suffered venerial disease and were often served at brothels. This joke suggests Madam Overdone’s hot house is a brothel but also jokes that Elbows wife uses brothels or is a prostitute.
How does Elbow misplace using the word suspect?
mixes it for respect
‘the house is a respected house; next. this is a respected fellow, and his mistress is a respected woman.’
What does Pompey accuse Elbow of?
What does Elbow call him in response?
pre-nuptial fornication
Pompey: ‘she was respected with him, before he married her.’
Elbow: ‘caitiff’ and ‘wicked Hannibal’ (mistaken for cannibal.)
Why is Mistress Overdone called her name?
overdone could mean sexually exhausted
overdone also means ‘carried to excess’ so could refer to her many marriages
What does Pompey say to Escalus about the new strict laws against fornication?
‘Does your worship mean to geld and splay all the youth of the city?’
- suggests ending fornication is impossible unless everyone is castrated
‘‘If this law hold in Vienna ten year, I’ll rent the fairest house in it after three pence a bay.’
-suggests everyone will leave the city if these laws hold. and thus renting the houses is going to be ridiculously cheap.
C & T (2,1)
POMPEY
If you head and hang all that offend that way but
for ten year together, you’ll be glad to give out a
commission for more heads: if this law hold in
Vienna ten year, I’ll rent the fairest house in it
after three-pence a bay: if you live to see this
come to pass, say Pompey told you so.
POMPEY
If you behead and hang everyone who has sex—even for just ten years straight—you’ll hardly have any heads left to chop off. If this law stands in Vienna for ten years, I’ll rent the nicest house in the city for three pence a month. If you live to see this happen, say that Pompey told you so.
What does Pompey say to Escalus about the lawfulness of being a bawd?
Escalus: ‘What do you think of the trade Pompey? Is a lawful trade?’
Pompey: ‘If the law would allow it, sir.’
sees the law as something flexible and bending
What is Elbow’s mistake about Pompey’s ‘strange picklock
Elbow naively assumes that Pompey is a thief due to this picklock but in fact it is a lock to pick chastity belts intended to prevent women from being unfaithful
What does the Friar say Pompey is and what does he tell him to do?
‘A bawd, a wicked bawd!’
‘Go mend, go mend.’
- reform himself
What joke does Pompey make about Madam Overdone becoming a prostitute again?
‘she hath eaten up all her beef, and she is herself in the tub.’
beef- meat, referring to prostitutes, all the other prostitutes in her establishment are used up or worn out
tub is the barrel in which beef is stored but also refers to a tub used to treat venereal disease
How does Lucio describe Pompey’s bawd activities?
‘Bawd he is doubtless and of antiquity too.’
The phrase “Bawd he is doubtless, and of antiquity too” is from Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure, Act 3, Scene 2. It is spoken by Lucio in reference to Pompey, a character who has been identified as a bawd (a pimp or madam). The phrase means that Pompey is undeniably a bawd and has been one for a long time, since “antiquity” suggests a long history of being a bawd, according to the Perseus Digital Library.
Elaboration:
Bawd: In the context of Shakespeare’s play, a bawd is a person who procures or arranges sexual encounters, often for prostitutes, according to myShakespeare.
Doubtless: This word emphasizes that Lucio has no doubt that Pompey is a bawd.
Of antiquity too: This phrase highlights that Pompey has been a bawd for a long time, suggesting a history of being one, according to the Perseus Digital Library.
What joke does Lucio make about Pompey being imprisoned?
‘I will pray, Pompey, to increase your bondage; if you take it not patiently, why, your mettle is the more.’
play of the Elizabethan mettle/metal ambiguity. a) you will show your courage more clearly b) you will receive more metal in the form of shackles
What does Lucio say about the Duke leaving? to the Friar
Lucio: ‘It was a mad fantastical trick of him to steal from the state, and usurp the beggary he was never born to. Lord Angelo dukes it well in his absence, he puts transgression to’t’ (He sees the way the Duke left Vienna as unfitting for his high birth, despises the Duke for this)
Friar: He does well in’t
Lucio: ‘A little more lenity to lechery would do no harm in him. Something too crabbed in that way, Friar’ (too harsh and severe)
Friar: It is too general a vice, and severity must cure it. (The Duke sees severity as the only way)
What is the prostitute called that Lucio gets pregnant, promises to marry, but doesn’t?
Kate Keepdown
this is a pun, she keeps on lying down
