Saturday, December 3, 2022

But remain Perplex'd in all

From Cymbeline, Act 4, Scene 3 by William Shakespeare.

Fortune brings in some boats that are not steer'd.

A wonderful articulation that there are things which happen against the odds.  The line is delivered by Pisanio, a servant caught between circumstances and masters and uncertainty.  In fact, his whole piece is a plaint about the unknown and unknowable.

I heard no letter from my master since
I wrote him Imogen was slain: 'tis strange:
Nor hear I from my mistress who did promise
To yield me often tidings: neither know I
What is betid to Cloten; but remain
Perplex'd in all. The heavens still must work.
Wherein I am false I am honest; not true, to be true.
These present wars shall find I love my country,
Even to the note o' the king, or I'll fall in them.
All other doubts, by time let them be clear'd:
Fortune brings in some boats that are not steer'd.

Shakespeare, in these lines, illustrates his durability.  His play is set in AD 10-14 and was written by 1611.  Yet he speaks to the human condition where we attempt our best though beset by circumstance and the unknown.  We are healthier, wealthier, better educated and safer than those earlier times but we remain perplexed in all.

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