Can curses pierce the clouds, and enter heaven?

Why, then, give way, dull clouds, to my quick curses !--
Though not by war, by surfeit die your king,

As ours by murder, to make him a king!

Edward, thy son, which now is Prince of Wales,
For Edward, my son, which was Prince of Wales,
Die in his youth by like untimely violence!
Thyself a queen, for me that was a queen,
Outlive thy glory, like my wretched self!
Long may'st thou live to wail thy children's loss;
And see another, as I see thee now,

Deck'd in thy rights, as thou art stall'd in mine!
Long die thy happy days before thy death;
And, after many lengthen'd hours of grief,
Die neither mother, wife, nor England's queen !—
Rivers, and Dorset, you were standers by,

And so wast thou, Lord Hastings, when my son
Was stabbed with bloody daggers: God, I pray him,

That none of you may live his natural age,

But by some unlook'd accident cut off!

esud

Glou. Have done thy charm, thy hateful wither'd hag!
Q. Mar. And leave out thee? stay, dog, for thou shalt hear

me.

If heaven have any grievous plague in store
Exceeding those that I can wish upon thee,
O, let them keep it till thy sins be ripe,
And then hurl down their indignation

On thee, the troubler of the poor world's peace!
The worm of conscience still begnaw thy soul!
Thy friends suspect for traitors while thou liv'st,
And take deep traitors for thy dearest friends!
No sleep close up that deadly eye of thine,
Unless it be while some tormenting dream
Affrights thee with a hell of ugly devils!
Thou elfish-marked, abortive, rooting hog!
Thou that was 't seal'd in thy nativity
The slave of nature, and the son of hell!

Glou. I cry thee mercy, then; for I had thought
That thou hadst called me all these bitter names.

-Richard the Third I., 3.

In the following extract we have a combination of the objective and the subjective elements of expansion, in the words of Shylock. All that he says is either in explanation or else in virtual repetition, of this one sentence, "I will have my bond."

Shylock. Jailer, look to him: tell not me of mercy.-
This is the fool that let out money gratis.-

Jailer look to him.

Ant.

Hear me yet, good Shylock.

Shy. I'll have my bond; speak not against my bond:

I've sworn an oath that I will have my bond.

Thou call'dst me dog before thou hadst a cause;

But, since I am a dog, beware my fangs :

The duke shall grant me justice.-I do wonder,
Thou naughty jailer, that thou art so fond

To come abroad with him at his request.

Ant. I pray thee, hear me speak.

Shy. I'll have my bond; I will not hear thee speak:
I'll have my bond; and therefore speak no more.

I'll not be made a soft and dull-eyed fool,

To shake the head, relent, and sigh, and yield
To Christian intercessors. Follow not;

I'll have no speaking: I will have my bond.

-Mer. Ven. III., 3.

See how many words of the harsh or severe style

are implied in this short expression with which Lady Macbeth answers her husband. He has just said, "If we should fail—"; she answers, "We fail! But screw your courage to the sticking-place, and we'll not fail." The words carry all this and much more:

O, you miserable coward! Talk of our failing! What ails you? Why are your knees smiting together, you white-livered wretch! Come, command yourself, man! Have a little pluck! I am ashamed of you!

In the following examples the words themselves, used exclamatorily, are so intense and so plainly subjective that the best help will be obtained by expanding them objectively:

Begone!
Shame!

Beast!

Villain!

Fit them into situations real or imagined, and expand the expressions both objectively and subjectively; that is, both by indicating the circumstances calling for the emotional expression; and by repeated intensifying or equivalent exclamations. Then take a milder form of harshness or severity; as, for instance, that expressing expostulation, with some degree of reproof:

Are we so low, so base, so despicable that we may not express our horror?-Henry Clay.

Go home, if you dare; go home, if you can, to your constituents, and tell them that you voted it down!-Ibid.

Examples for Study.-Find other cases for such paraphrasing in the Court Room Scene in Mer

chant of Venice, Act 4, Scene 1; in the Closet Scene of Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 4; in the words of the Tribunes in Julius Cæsar, Act I, Scene 1; and in the cries of the citizens at the conclusion of Antony's speech, Julius Cæsar, Act 3, Scene 2.

In its typical form, this style appears much more frequently in dramatic works. In modified forms, harshness or severity may be found in oratory and in conversation whenever there is a sense of sternness coupled with something of disturbance.

CHAPTER XV.

OPPRESSED, OR COVERED, FEELING.

THIS represents an intensely subjective condition of the emotions. It differs from the "suppression" spoken of above, in this respect: That was essentially objective-the purpose usually was to communicate to some one else the sense of suppression, as in secrecy, fear, or intensity of feeling; here the emotion is driven in upon itself, seeking to hide, rather than to reveal, itself.

This oppressed feeling is experienced whenever a sense of vastness, solemnity, awe, amazement, deep or superstitious reverence, dread, terror, and the like, causes an impulse to retreat and cover one's self, to shrink away, or escape from sight. It is oftener met in soliloquy than in conversation or open address:

In thoughts from the visions of the night,
When deep sleep falleth on men,
Fear came upon me, and trembling,
Which made all my bones to shake.

Then a spirit passed before my face;

The hair of my flesh stood up.-Job iv. 13-15.

Angels and ministers of grace defend us!

-Ham. I., 4.

O all you host of Heaven! O Earth! what else?

And shall I couple hell? O, fie! Hold, hold, my heart;

And you, my sinews, grow not instant old,

But bear me stiffly up.

-Ham. I., 5.