Cymbeline 1.v

SCENE V.
Britain. CYMBELINE'S palace

Enter QUEEN, LADIES, and CORNELIUS

[The queen is surrounded by her ladies. She needs them to go away so that she's not seen getting the poison from Doctor Cornelius.]

[Action: order, request, give instructions]
QUEEN. Whiles yet the dew's on ground, gather those flowers;
Make haste; who has the [] note [list] of them?

[In other words, "Who has the list of the flowers?"]

[Maybe the ladies all search for the note. One finally finds it.]

LADY. I, madam.

[Maybe the ladies all gather around the list, looking at it. The queen wants them gone.]


QUEEN. [] Dispatch. [hurry.] Exeunt LADIES

[The previous line is short, suggesting a subsequent pause. Maybe the ladies take their time leaving, or there's some confusion or stumbling. The queen so wants to be alone with the doctor. It must be exasperating to her. Maybe she only has a few minutes with the doctor. Anyone could come in at any time. She needs him to hand over the drugs in a hurry.]

Now, Master Doctor, have you brought those drugs?
CORNELIUS. Pleaseth your Highness, ay. Here they are, madam.
[Presenting a box]


[Perhaps he starts to hand them over; then thinks better of it and pulls them back.]

But I beseech your Grace, without offence --
My conscience bids me ask -- [] wherefore [why] you have
Commanded of me these most poisonous compounds
Which are the [] movers [the cause] of a languishing death,
But, though slow, deadly?

[His problem is that, though he knows she's requested a poison and doesn't want to give it to her, she's a queen. Possible actions: delay, play for time, submit a complaint...]


[Action: belittle, strip down, accuse, berate, condescend]
QUEEN. I wonder, Doctor,
Thou ask'st me such a question. Have I not been
Thy pupil long? Hast thou not learn'd me how
To make perfumes? distil? preserve? yea, so
That our great king himself doth woo me oft
For my confections?

[Action: pummel him with logic. He is the scientist. She is turning the tables on him. Also, when she says, "Unless thou think'st me devilish," she cuts him off at the pass, saying it before he does. That makes him look like a bad guy if he does say it.]

Having thus far proceeded --
Unless thou think'st me devilish -- is't not [] meet [appropriate]
That I did amplify my judgment in
Other [] conclusions [experiments]? I will try the forces
Of these thy compounds on such creatures as
We count not worth the hanging -- but none human --
To try the vigour of them, and apply
[] Allayments [antidotes] to their act, and by them gather
Their several virtues and effects.

[It's interesting that the queen -- and she IS a queen -- goes to such lengths to explain herself. At first, she says "I'm surprised you asked." Then, she elaborates. It's sort of a "The lady doth protest too much" situation. She probably should have just said, "None of your business." Maybe guilt loosened her tongue a bit too much.]

[Action: graciously refuse, delay]
CORNELIUS. Your Highness
Shall from this practice but make hard your heart;
Besides, the seeing these effects will be
Both noisome and infectious.
QUEEN. O, content thee.

[It would be funny if Cornelius hadn't handed the poison to the queen. He just "presented" it, but still held it in his own hands. That would help justify the queen going on and on. Maybe, on "O, content thee" she grabs it from him. It's a shared line, which implies she interrupts him. She's tired of the polite game, and Pisanio is coming into the room.]

Enter PISANIO

[Action (to the audience): boast, ridicule, make them accomplices to a prank, justify]

[Aside] Here comes a flattering rascal; upon him
Will I first work. He's for his master,
An enemy to my son.- How now, Pisanio!
Doctor, your service for this time is ended;
Take your own way.

[It might be interesting if, in fact, Cornelius gave her real poison. Maybe he gets and idea when he says, "But you shall do no harm" and, during his next speech, stealthily replaces the poison with fake poison.]

CORNELIUS. [Aside] I do suspect you, madam;
But you shall do no harm.
QUEEN. [To PISANIO] Hark thee, a word.


[In this speech, Cornelius's problem is that the audience might be loyal to the queen. Or, regardless of their loyalties, they might think he's wrong to dupe her. He needs to win them over (they might tell on him!), so he presents evidence against her and justifies himself.]

CORNELIUS. [Aside] I do not like her. She doth think she has
Strange ling'ring poisons. I do know her spirit,
And will not trust one of her malice with
A drug of such damn'd nature. Those she has
Will stupefy and dull the sense awhile,
Which first [] perchance [perhaps] she'll prove on cats and dogs,
Then afterward up higher; but there is
No danger in what show of death it makes,
More than the locking up the spirits a time,
To be more fresh, reviving. She is fool'd
With a most false effect; and I the truer
So to be false with her.
QUEEN. No further service, Doctor,
Until I send for thee.

[She asked him to leave way earlier. He's still not gone. Perhaps she barks that last line at him. His line, following, is a shared-verse line with hers. That implies that he picks up is cue really fast. Maybe her bark scared him and he fled.]

CORNELIUS. I humbly take my leave. Exit

[Maybe he has to gather up his stuff. The short line implies a pause. It must be really irritating to the queen.]

[Since we don't ever hear Pisanio say "She weeps, still," presumably, he and the queen have been having a quiet conversation all the time Cornelius has been speaking. ]

[The following bit is interesting. By the end of it, after Pisanio leaves, she suspects that he's completely loyal to Posthumus, and she hopes he'll take the poison so that Posthumus will no longer have any agents at court. But then why does she spend so long before that trying to win him over. He doesn't have any lines while she's trying to seduce him.

Is she really trying to seduce him away from his master? If so, he must somehow give her the impression that she's failed. Maybe because he doesn't say anything. Maybe her goal is to get him to say, "I am your servant." ]

[Action: Ursurp ownership of Pisanio (in the first part of the speech, she orders him around as if he's her servant.)]

QUEEN. Weeps she still, say'st thou? Dost thou think in time
She will not [] quench [cool down], and let instructions enter
Where folly now possesses? Do thou work.
When thou shalt bring me word she loves my son,

[Action: praise, offer rewards]

I'll tell thee on the instant thou art then
As great as is [] thy master [Postumus];

[Action: destroy Posthumus, belittle, ruin his reputation, wake Pisanio up to the truth]

greater, for
His fortunes all lie speechless, and his [] name [reputation]
Is at last gasp. Return he cannot, nor
Continue where he is. To [] shift his being [change his location]
Is to exchange one misery with another,
And every day that comes comes comes to
A day's work in him. { What shalt thou expect
To be depender on a thing that leans, }
Who cannot be new built, nor has no friends
So much as but to prop him?

{What do you expect for yourself if you depend on something broken (like Posthumus) }

[The QUEEN drops the box. PISANIO takes it up]


[Did she intend to drop the box all along? Maybe not. Maybe she's switching to plan B, because she's expended so many words on plan A -- winning Pisanio over -- and he's not taking the bait.]

Thou tak'st up
Thou know'st not what; but take it for thy labour.
It is a thing I made, which hath the King
Five times redeem'd from death. I do not know
What is more [] cordial [restoriative]. Nay, I prithee take it;
It is an earnest of a further good
That I mean to thee. Tell thy mistress how
The case stands with her; do't as from thyself.
{ Think what a chance thou changest on; } but think

{Think what a good chance this is for you!}

Thou hast thy mistress still; [] to boot [and also], my son,
Who shall take notice of thee. I'll move the King
To any shape of thy preferment, such
As thou'lt desire; and then myself, I chiefly,
That set thee on to this desert, am bound
To load thy merit richly. Call my women.
Think on my words. Exit PISANIO

[At the end of the speech, after working really hard to get Pisanio to take the box with the "poison," she tries to seduce him, again. She's hedging her bets, trying both plans. It's worth doing, because it one plan doesn't work, the other might. But it makes her a bit "schizophrenic." In the following speech, she vents to the audience and explains her erratic behavior. It has a "Can you SEE what I'm up aghaint?" flavor. It's as if she need to win them over to the fact that she's competent. ]

A sly and [] constant [loyal] knave,
Not to be [] shak'd [i.e. not to be seduced]; the agent for his master,
And the remembrancer of her to hold
The hand-fast to her lord. I have given him that
Which, if he take, shall quite unpeople her
Of [] leigers [ambassadors] for her [] sweet [e.g. sweet husband]; and which she after,
[] Except [unless] she [] bend her humour [changes her mind], shall be assur'd
To taste of too.

[Is she saying that Imogen might drink the poison, too? Why would the Queen want that to happen? She wants Imogen to marry her son. Maybe she means Imogen will drink it after she marries Cloten. Or maybe it's just occurring to her that Imogen might drink the poison. Maybe it's not a good thought. In any case, she doesn't have long to think about it, because...]

Re-enter PISANIO and LADIES

So, so. Well done, well done.
The violets, cowslips, and the primroses,
Bear to my closet. Fare thee well, Pisanio;
Think on my words. Exeunt QUEEN and LADIES

[He needs the audience to understand that he's going to choose the straight and narrow path. Since he hasn't spoken, he may be worried they don't know his intentions. One (controversial?) way to play this is for him to really consider switching sides after "And shall do" and then decide not to.]
PISANIO. And shall do.
But when to my good lord I prove untrue
I'll choke myself- there's all I'll do for you. Exit