Quotes

[j.rouhayem]

anyone knows where i can find explanation for shakespeare's quotes? like : she sat like patience on a monument smiling at grief... and others... im not very good at interpreting his quotes :S

[Albion]

Shakespeare used thousands of quotations: but it was he who invented most of them. He also drew inspiration from Greek and Roman mythology and history eg the superfluous "Cressida was a beggar" in TN.

[Beewulf]

If you consult an annotated version of Shakespeare's plays (there are lots of them out paperback) you'll find footnotes that explain obscure words or references. Here's my gloss on the lines you mentioned:

In this passage, Viola (disguised as young man) is explaining to Orsino how her "sister" patiently endured the exquisite pain of being unable to reveal her love for a man. Though ravaged by melancholy, the virtuous maid retained her silence and smiled stoically at her life-threatening sadness. Viola is trying to prove to the chauvinistic Orsino that women love with a silent fidelity and passion that surpasses the showy and ephemeral desires of men

One the one hand, this passage is an example of dramatic irony, for the audience (or reader) realizes that Viola is speaking of herself. On the other hand, this is also an example of allegory. Viola is not just referring to patience as the mental state of endurance; rather, she pictures patience as an actual woman who embodies the spirit and form of calm endurance.

The Church identified patience as one of the seven virtues, and the allegorical character of Patience was an important figure in late medieval sermons and literature. By Shakespeare's day, the use of allegory was declining, but it was still a potent poetic device.

[jayat]

114, 5. "She sat, ... grief, she sat smiling at grief, like a figure of patience on a monument. Without the comma at sat, the sense would be she sat like a figure of patience on a monument smiling at another figure of grief, which is almost ludicrous.