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In law, what plea so tainted and corrupt
But being season'd with a gracious voice
Obscures the show of evil?

      — The Merchant of Venice, Act III Scene 2

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1-20 of 56 total

KEYWORD: authority

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Work The work is either a play, poem, or sonnet. The sonnets are treated as single work with 154 parts.

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The numbering is not keyed to any copyrighted numbering system found in a volume of collected works (Arden, Oxford, etc.) The numbering starts at the beginning of the work, and does not restart for each scene.

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1

All's Well That Ends Well
[II, 3]

Parolles

1135

Well, thou hast a son shall take this disgrace off
me; scurvy, old, filthy, scurvy lord! Well, I must
be patient; there is no fettering of authority.
I'll beat him, by my life, if I can meet him with
any convenience, an he were double and double a
lord. I'll have no more pity of his age than I
would of—I'll beat him, an if I could but meet him again.

2

All's Well That Ends Well
[IV, 5]

Countess

2520

So he is. My lord that's gone made himself much
sport out of him: by his authority he remains here,
which he thinks is a patent for his sauciness; and,
indeed, he has no pace, but runs where he will.

3

Antony and Cleopatra
[II, 2]

Antony

743

You do mistake your business; my brother never
Did urge me in his act: I did inquire it;
And have my learning from some true reports,
That drew their swords with you. Did he not rather
Discredit my authority with yours;
And make the wars alike against my stomach,
Having alike your cause? Of this my letters
Before did satisfy you. If you'll patch a quarrel,
As matter whole you have not to make it with,
It must not be with this.

4

Antony and Cleopatra
[II, 6]

Domitius Enobarus

1332

There I deny my land service. But give me your
hand, Menas: if our eyes had authority, here they
might take two thieves kissing.

5

Antony and Cleopatra
[III, 6]

Octavius

1856

'Tis done already, and the messenger gone.
I have told him, Lepidus was grown too cruel;
That he his high authority abused,
And did deserve his change: for what I have conquer'd,
I grant him part; but then, in his Armenia,
And other of his conquer'd kingdoms, I
Demand the like.

6

Antony and Cleopatra
[III, 13]

Antony

2360

Approach, there! Ah, you kite! Now, gods
and devils!
Authority melts from me: of late, when I cried 'Ho!'
Like boys unto a muss, kings would start forth,
And cry 'Your will?' Have you no ears? I am
Antony yet.
[Enter Attendants]
Take hence this Jack, and whip him.

7

Coriolanus
[I, 1]

First Citizen

13

We are accounted poor citizens, the patricians good.
What authority surfeits on would relieve us: if they
would yield us but the superfluity, while it were
wholesome, we might guess they relieved us humanely;
but they think we are too dear: the leanness that
afflicts us, the object of our misery, is as an
inventory to particularise their abundance; our
sufferance is a gain to them Let us revenge this with
our pikes, ere we become rakes: for the gods know I
speak this in hunger for bread, not in thirst for revenge.

8

Coriolanus
[III, 1]

Coriolanus

1749

I wish I had a cause to seek him there,
To oppose his hatred fully. Welcome home.
[Enter SICINIUS and BRUTUS]
Behold, these are the tribunes of the people,
The tongues o' the common mouth: I do despise them;
For they do prank them in authority,
Against all noble sufferance.

9

Coriolanus
[III, 1]

Junius Brutus

1987

Or let us stand to our authority,
Or let us lose it. We do here pronounce,
Upon the part o' the people, in whose power
We were elected theirs, CORIOLANUS is worthy
Of present death.

10

Henry IV, Part II
[IV, 2]

Prince John

2497

I like them all and do allow them well;
And swear here, by the honour of my blood,
My father's purposes have been mistook;
And some about him have too lavishly
Wrested his meaning and authority.
My lord, these griefs shall be with speed redress'd;
Upon my soul, they shall. If this may please you,
Discharge your powers unto their several counties,
As we will ours; and here, between the armies,
Let's drink together friendly and embrace,
That all their eyes may bear those tokens home
Of our restored love and amity.

11

Henry IV, Part II
[V, 2]

Lord Chief Justice

3321

I then did use the person of your father;
The image of his power lay then in me;
And in th' administration of his law,
Whiles I was busy for the commonwealth,
Your Highness pleased to forget my place,
The majesty and power of law and justice,
The image of the King whom I presented,
And struck me in my very seat of judgment;
Whereon, as an offender to your father,
I gave bold way to my authority
And did commit you. If the deed were ill,
Be you contented, wearing now the garland,
To have a son set your decrees at nought,
To pluck down justice from your awful bench,
To trip the course of law, and blunt the sword
That guards the peace and safety of your person;
Nay, more, to spurn at your most royal image,
And mock your workings in a second body.
Question your royal thoughts, make the case yours;
Be now the father, and propose a son;
Hear your own dignity so much profan'd,
See your most dreadful laws so loosely slighted,
Behold yourself so by a son disdain'd;
And then imagine me taking your part
And, in your power, soft silencing your son.
After this cold considerance, sentence me;
And, as you are a king, speak in your state
What I have done that misbecame my place,
My person, or my liege's sovereignty.

12

Henry IV, Part II
[V, 3]

Robert Shallow

3518

Give me pardon, sir. If, sir, you come with news from
court, I take it there's but two ways—either to utter them
conceal them. I am, sir, under the King, in some authority.

13

Henry VI, Part I
[V, 1]

Duke of Gloucester

2370

Beside, my lord, the sooner to effect
And surer bind this knot of amity,
The Earl of Armagnac, near knit to Charles,
A man of great authority in France,
Proffers his only daughter to your grace
In marriage, with a large and sumptuous dowry.

14

Henry VI, Part I
[V, 1]

Winchester

2413

[Aside] Now Winchester will not submit, I trow,
Or be inferior to the proudest peer.
Humphrey of Gloucester, thou shalt well perceive
That, neither in birth or for authority,
The bishop will be overborne by thee:
I'll either make thee stoop and bend thy knee,
Or sack this country with a mutiny.

15

Henry VI, Part I
[V, 4]

Duke of Alencon

2808

Must he be then as shadow of himself?
Adorn his temples with a coronet,
And yet, in substance and authority,
Retain but privilege of a private man?
This proffer is absurd and reasonless.

16

Henry VI, Part I
[V, 5]

Earl of Suffolk

2892

Yes, lord, her father is a king,
The King of Naples and Jerusalem;
And of such great authority in France
As his alliance will confirm our peace
And keep the Frenchmen in allegiance.

17

Henry VI, Part II
[III, 1]

Earl of Suffolk

1601

Why, our authority is his consent,
And what we do establish he confirms:
Then, noble York, take thou this task in hand.

18

Henry VI, Part III
[I, 2]

Richard III (Duke of Gloucester)

316

An oath is of no moment, being not took
Before a true and lawful magistrate,
That hath authority over him that swears:
Henry had none, but did usurp the place;
Then, seeing 'twas he that made you to depose,
Your oath, my lord, is vain and frivolous.
Therefore, to arms! And, father, do but think
How sweet a thing it is to wear a crown;
Within whose circuit is Elysium
And all that poets feign of bliss and joy.
Why do we finger thus? I cannot rest
Until the white rose that I wear be dyed
Even in the lukewarm blood of Henry's heart.

19

Henry VIII
[II, 4]

Henry VIII

1356

What's the need?
It hath already publicly been read,
And on all sides the authority allow'd;
You may, then, spare that time.

20

Henry VIII
[III, 2]

Cardinal Wolsey

2120

Stay:
Where's your commission, lords? words cannot carry
Authority so weighty.

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