"But that you shall not say I yield being silent,
I would not speak. I pray you, spare me: 'faith,
I shall unfold equal discourtesy
To your best kindness: one of your great knowing
Should learn, being taught, forbearance. "
I like to think that whoever wrote the Queen's speech for the Irish visit was thinking of "Cymbeline" when the word "forbearance" was chosen.
It is a play where this unfashionable quality is mentioned several times and the self control it evokes is interesting to consider.
Personally, I don't do forbearance, but it might be worth thinking about its usefulness in times of trouble. The queen is the head of the Church of England, so it is expected that Christian values, including mind-flexing "forbearance" would be suitable.
The nice thing about Shakespeare's great baggy monster of a play is that, after everybody wandering round interminable in a Celtic Twilight, not knowing quite who they or anybody else is, the whole kerfuffle ends with a banquet where all are welcome.
Only the seriously churlish don't bother to turn up.
"Laud we the gods;
And let our crooked smokes climb to their nostrils,
From our bless'd altars. Publish we this
peace
To all our subjects. Set we forward; let
A Roman and a British ensign wave
Friendly together. so through Lud's Town
march;
And in the temple of great Jupiter
Our peace we'll ratify; seal it with feast.
Set on there! Never was a war did cease,
ere bloody hands were wash'd, with such a
peace."
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2 comments:
That's very nice. I don't do forebearance too well either. And I realize that I have never read or seen Cymbeline--rather oddly, as I've been to a lot of Shakespeare festivals over the years.
Worse, I can't remember whether I have read it or not, as it is jumbled up in my head with all the history plays that poured out of "this sceptred isle".
It is best remembered for the songs and we learned "Fear no more the heat o' the sun in primary school" a somewhat gloomy choice for children, but useful for learning the use of the apostrophe.
It's a beautiful poem and full of fortitude:
"Fear no more the frown of the great,
Thou art past the tyrant's stroke:
Care no more to clothe and eat;
To thee the reed is as the oak: "
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