HELENA of Rousillon

Speech
Arden 3

HELEN
—————————–Then I confess,
Here on my knee, before high heaven and you,
That before you, and next unto high heaven,                      190
I love your son.
My friends were poor but honest, so’s my love.
Be not offended, for it hurts not him
That he is loved of me. I follow him not
By any token of presumptuous suit,                                     195
Nor would I have him till I do deserve him,
Yet never know how that desert should be.
I know I love in vain, strive against hope;
Yet in this captious and intenable sieve
I still pour in the waters of my love                                        200
And lack not to lose still. Thus, Indian-like,
Religious in mine error, I adore
The sun that looks upon his worshipper,
But knows of him no more. My dearest madam,
Let not your hate encounter with my love                             205
For loving where you do; but if yourself,
Whose aged honour cites a virtuous youth,
Did ever in so true a flame of liking
Wish chastely and love dearly, that your Dian
Was both herself and Love, O then give pity                         210
To her whose state is such that cannot choose
But lend and give where she is sure to lose;
That seeks not to find that her search implies,
But riddle-like lives sweetly where she dies.

Words and Pronunciation +
Arden 3

Words

before: in front of … more than (Gossett & Wilcox)

high heaven: alliteration, but also an underscoring of heaven as the highest (beyond Helena) thing (Leung)

friend: The word had a broad spectrum of meaning in Early Modern English, denoting not only a close companion and acquaintance (OED n. 1) but a relative (OED n. 3), more generally a supporter (OED n. 4) and finally a lover (OED n. 6). The Countess and Lavatch play on the different senses at 1.3.39–42. Cf. 1.3.192. (Gossett & Wilcox); relative, relation, kinsman (SW)

poor: having no riches or even any property, indigent, needy (Schmidt);

honest: true in words and deeds (Schmidt); chaste, pure, virtuous (SW); honourable, respectable, upright (SW); genuine, real, true (SW); innocent, well-intentioned, innocuous (SW)

loved of: loved by, beloved of (Leung)

presumptuous suit: Here suit means primarily ‘courtship’ (OED n. 12), but it shades into the play’s more frequent usage, a general supplication (OED n. 11a), as at 2.3.76. Metaphorically, Helen denies that she will dress herself in a manner more aristocratic than her status warrants, suit resonating with its first use in the play, when Paroles describes an old courtier as ‘richly suited, but unsuitable’ (1.1.155–6). Helen denies that her suit is presumptuous, that is, ‘unduly confident or bold’ (OED adj. 1), but presumptuous goes especially well with suit because of the adjective’s association with sumptuousness in clothing and sumptuary law (HRW). Cf. 3.5.70, 5.3.160, Epil.2. (Gossett & Wilcox)

suit: wooing, courtship (SW); formal request, entreaty, petition (SW); clothing, dress, garb (SW)

desert: worth, merit, deserving (SW); deserving, due recompense, right (SW); worthy deed, meritorious action (SW)

in this captious and intenable sieve I still pour in the waters:‘To pour water into a sieve’ is a proverbial image of futility (Dent, W111); cf. MA 5.1.4–5. The so-called ‘sieve’ portrait of Queen Elizabeth by Quentin Metsys the younger (1583) associates Elizabeth with the vestal virgin Tuccia, who proved her chastity by carrying a sieve full of water from the Tiber to the Temple of Vesta. (Gossett & Wilcox)

captious:able to take in or contain, capacious (OED 3a, with this as the only citation) (Gossett & Wilcox)

intenable: incapable of holding or retaining. F2 has ‘intenible’. Hunter interprets F’s ‘intemible’ as meaning that nothing that is poured in can teem out, but the anomalous spelling may have arisen through the compositor misreading minims. The meaning is clarified by contrast in Hamlet’s direction to his companions, ‘If you have hitherto concealed this sight / Let it be tenable [1603 tenible] in your silence still’ (Ham 1.2.245–6). (Gossett & Wilcox)

sieve: basket, hold-all, container [especially market produce](SW)

still: ever, now [as before] (SW); constantly, always, continually (SW)

Indian-like: In LLL 4.3.218–19 the ‘rude and savage man of Ind’ is said to bow and kiss the ground at ‘the first opening of the gorgeous east’. The British, who were exploring both in the East and West Indies at the time, assumed all ‘savages’ (LLL 5.2.202) were sun-worshippers.(Gossett & Wilcox)

encounter: confront, assail, attack (SW); contest, dispute, confront (SW); oppose, thwart, defeat (SW)

aged: experienced, accomplished, mature (SW)

honour: credit, good name, reputation (SW); noble rank, position of dignity, title of renown (SW); fame, renown, glory (SW); object of honour, source of distinction (SW)

cites: proves, constitutes evidence of; OED 4’s only citation for this meaning (Gossett & Wilcox); cite: be evidence of, confirm, acknowledge (SW); call to mind, make reference to (SW); urge, call on, arouse, summon (SW)

virtuous: arising from virtuous practice, justifiable, well warranted (SW); showing fine qualities, praiseworthy (SW)

true: constant, faithful in love (SW); honourable, virtuous, sincere (SW); legitimate, rightful, honourable (SW)

flame…dearly: Helen’s imagery suggests the contradictions in love, with flame indicating a passion that seems sexual rather than chaste. (Gossett & Wilcox); flame: blaze, shine, flash (SW);

liking: desire, will, pleasure (SW); lustful affection, sexual attraction (SW)

wish: hope, desire (SW); entreat, invite (SW)

chastely: chaste: pure, stainless, undefiled (SW); celibate, single, unmarried (SW)

dearly: grievously, at great cost (SW); keenly, deeply, intensely (SW); beautifully, exquisitely, wonderfully (SW)

that your Dian was both herself and Love: So you could be chaste like Diana and yet be the female god of Love or Venus, mythologically Diana’s opposite; cf. 112n. See 213–14n. for a further paradox. (Gossett & Wilcox)

Dian: short for Diana: Roman goddess associated with the Moon, chastity, and hunting (SW)

Love: either Venus or Cupid (in female form) (Leung); also Gossett & Wilcox

pity: be merciful to, assist (SW)

state…lose:‘condition is that of someone who cannot avoid investing where she is certain to lose’; cf. Son 64.13–14, ‘This thought is as a death, which cannot choose / But weep to have that which it fears to lose’. (Gossett & Wilcox)

state: condition (Leung); status, rank, position (SW)

lines 213-214: This couplet emphasizes the paradoxical nature of Helen’s love, which, she claims, paralyses her. However, her assertion that she ‘seeks not to find that her search implies’, that is, that she is doing nothing actively to achieve her love, is immediately challenged by the Countess recalling Helen’s intent (215); see 1.1.225n. The couplet’s second line (214) is the first of the play’s many riddles, confounding death and life, but the sexual suggestion in sweetly … dies will be confirmed when Helen speaks of the sweet (sexual) use Bertram has made of her, presumably leading to orgasm or ‘death’ (4.4.22). Cf. 3.2.57–60, 3.7.45–7 and n, 4.3.221n., 5.3.268–79, 5.3.300–1, and pp. 105, 112. (Gossett & Wilcox)

riddle-like: in the manner of a riddle. hiding the truth of a situation (SW)

riddle:

Pronunciation +

line 191:The half line, with the implied long pause following, emphasizes Helen’s simple declaration of her feelings. (Gossett & Wilcox)

line 194: Helen is being disingenuous. She has not yet said she would follow Bertram, but earlier she referred to my project and announced that her ‘intents are fixed and will not leave me’ (1.1.224–5), so she does appear to have a plan to deserve him.) (Gossett & Wilcox)

presumptuous:  (line 195) pre-zump-chuss or pre-zump-chew-uss

captious: (line 199) capt-shuss, or capt-shoe-uss

intenable: (line 199) in-ten-uh-bull

line 201-204: Just as the sun is oblivious to those that adore him, Bertram knows nothing of Helen’s love. (Gossett & Wilcox)

aged: (line 207) agèd

Dian: (line 209) die-enn, or die-ann, or die-unn

Translation
No Fear Shakespeare

HELEN
—————————–Then I confess,
Here on my knee, before high heaven and you,
That before you, and next unto high heaven,                      190
I love your son.
My friends were poor but honest, so’s my love.
Be not offended, for it hurts not him
That he is loved of me. I follow him not
By any token of presumptuous suit,                                     195
Nor would I have him till I do deserve him,
Yet never know how that desert should be.
I know I love in vain, strive against hope;
Yet in this captious and intenable sieve
I still pour in the waters of my love                                        200
And lack not to lose still. Thus, Indian-like,
Religious in mine error, I adore
The sun that looks upon his worshipper,
But knows of him no more. My dearest madam,
Let not your hate encounter with my love                             205
For loving where you do; but if yourself,
Whose aged honour cites a virtuous youth,
Did ever in so true a flame of liking
Wish chastely and love dearly, that your Dian
Was both herself and Love, O then give pity                         210
To her whose state is such that cannot choose
But lend and give where she is sure to lose;
That seeks not to find that her search implies,
But riddle-like lives sweetly where she dies.

Assonance
Arden 3

HELEN
—————————–Then I confess,
Here on my knee, before high heaven and you,
That before you, and next unto high heaven,                      190
I love your son.
My friends were poor but honest, so’s my love.
Be not offended, for it hurts not him
That he is loved of me. I follow him not
By any token of presumptuous suit,                                     195
Nor would I have him till I do deserve him,
Yet never know how that desert should be.
I know I love in vain, strive against hope;
Yet in this captious and intenable sieve
I still pour in the waters of my love                                        200
And lack not to lose still. Thus, Indian-like,
Religious in mine error, I adore
The sun that looks upon his worshipper,
But knows of him no more. My dearest madam,
Let not your hate encounter with my love                             205
For loving where you do; but if yourself,
Whose aged honour cites a virtuous youth,
Did ever in so true a flame of liking
Wish chastely and love dearly, that your Dian
Was both herself and Love, O then give pity                         210
To her whose state is such that cannot choose
But lend and give where she is sure to lose;
That seeks not to find that her search implies,
But riddle-like lives sweetly where she dies.

Alliteration
Arden 3

HELEN
—————————–Then I confess,
Here on my knee, before high heaven and you,
That before you, and next unto high heaven,                      190
I love your son.
My friends were poor but honest, so’s my love.
Be not offended, for it hurts not him
That he is loved of me. I follow him not
By any token of presumptuous suit,                                     195
Nor would I have him till I do deserve him,
Yet never know how that desert should be.
I know I love in vain, strive against hope;
Yet in this captious and intenable sieve
I still pour in the waters of my love                                        200
And lack not to lose still. Thus, Indian-like,
Religious in mine error, I adore
The sun that looks upon his worshipper,
But knows of him no more. My dearest madam,
Let not your hate encounter with my love                             205
For loving where you do; but if yourself,
Whose aged honour cites a virtuous youth,
Did ever in so true a flame of liking
Wish chastely and love dearly, that your Dian
Was both herself and Love, O then give pity                         210
To her whose state is such that cannot choose
But lend and give where she is sure to lose;
That seeks not to find that her search implies,
But riddle-like lives sweetly where she dies.

Consonance
Arden 3

HELEN
—————————–Then I confess,
Here on my knee, before high heaven and you,
That before you, and next unto high heaven,                      190
I love your son.
My friends were poor but honest, so’s my love.
Be not offended, for it hurts not him
That he is loved of me. I follow him not
By any token of presumptuous suit,                                     195
Nor would I have him till I do deserve him,
Yet never know how that desert should be.
I know I love in vain, strive against hope;
Yet in this captious and intenable sieve
I still pour in the waters of my love                                        200
And lack not to lose still. Thus, Indian-like,
Religious in mine error, I adore
The sun that looks upon his worshipper,
But knows of him no more. My dearest madam,
Let not your hate encounter with my love                             205
For loving where you do; but if yourself,
Whose aged honour cites a virtuous youth,
Did ever in so true a flame of liking
Wish chastely and love dearly, that your Dian
Was both herself and Love, O then give pity                         210
To her whose state is such that cannot choose
But lend and give where she is sure to lose;
That seeks not to find that her search implies,
But riddle-like lives sweetly where she dies.

Thoughts
Arden 3

HELEN
1. —————————–Then I confess,
Here on my knee, before high heaven and you,
That before you, and next unto high heaven,                      190
I love your son.
2. My friends were poor but honest, so’s my love.
3. Be not offended, for it hurts not him
That he is loved of me. 4. I follow him not
By any token of presumptuous suit,                                     195
Nor would I have him till I do deserve him,
Yet never know how that desert should be.
5. I know I love in vain, strive against hope;
b. Yet in this captious and intenable sieve
I still pour in the waters of my love                                        200
And lack not to lose still. 6. Thus, Indian-like,
Religious in mine error, I adore
The sun that looks upon his worshipper,
But knows of him no more. 7. My dearest madam,
Let not your hate encounter with my love                             205
For loving where you do; b. but if yourself,
Whose aged honour cites a virtuous youth,
Did ever in so true a flame of liking
Wish chastely and love dearly, that your Dian
Was both herself and Love, O then give pity                         210
To her whose state is such that cannot choose
But lend and give where she is sure to lose;
c. That seeks not to find that her search implies,
But riddle-like lives sweetly where she dies.

THOUGHTS

Long: 1
Medium: 4
Short: 2
Complex: 2 | 2, 3

End stopped: 3
Midline: 4

Period: 7
Exclamation: 0
Question: 0
Dash: 0

Total: 7

Rhythm
Arden 3

HELEN
—————————–Then I confess, 4
Here on my knee, before high heaven and you, 10
That before you, and next unto high heaven,  11W              190
I love your son. 4
My friends were poor but honest, so’s my love. 10R
Be not offended, for it hurts not him  10|10R
That he is loved of me. I follow him not  10R | 11
By any token of presumptuous suit,  10R | 11                          195
Nor would I have him till I do deserve him, 11W
Yet never know how that desert should be. 10R
I know I love in vain, strive against hope; 10
Yet in this captious ^ and intenable sieve 11 (ec)
I still pour in the waters of my love  10 | 10R                           200
And lack not to lose still. Thus, Indian-like, 10
Religious in mine error, I adore 10R
The sun that looks upon his worshipper, 10R
But knows of him no more. My dearest madam, 11W
Let not your hate encounter with my love   10R                         205
For loving where you do; but if yourself, 10R
Whose agèd honour cites a virtuous youth, 10R | 11
Did ever in so true a flame of liking 11W
Wish chastely ^ and love dearly, that your Dian 11W
Was both herself and Love, O then give pity   11W                     210
To her whose state is such that cannot choose 10R
But lend and give where she is sure to lose;  10R
That seeks not to find that her search implies, 10
But riddle-like lives sweetly where she dies. 10R

Pacing
Arden 3

HELEN
—————————–Then I confess,
Here on my knee, before high heaven and you,
That before you, and next unto high heaven,                      190
I love your son.
My friends were poor but honest, so’s my love.
Be not offended, for it hurts not him
That he is loved of me. I follow him not
By any token of presumptuous suit,                                     195
Nor would I have him till I do deserve him,
Yet never know how that desert should be.
I know I love in vain, strive against hope;
Yet in this captious and intenable sieve
I still pour in the waters of my love                                        200
And lack not to lose still. Thus, Indian-like,
Religious in mine error, I adore
The sun that looks upon his worshipper,
But knows of him no more. My dearest madam,
Let not your hate encounter with my love                             205
For loving where you do; but if yourself,
Whose aged honour cites a virtuous youth,
Did ever in so true a flame of liking
Wish chastely and love dearly, that your Dian
Was both herself and Love, O then give pity                         210
To her whose state is such that cannot choose
But lend and give where she is sure to lose;
That seeks not to find that her search implies,
But riddle-like lives sweetly where she dies.

Beats
Arden 3

 

---

HELEN
—————————–Then I confess,
Here on my knee, before high heaven and you,
That before you, and next unto high heaven,                      190
I love your son.

---

My friends were poor but honest, so’s my love.
Be not offended, for it hurts not him
That he is loved of me. I follow him not
By any token of presumptuous suit,                                     195
Nor would I have him till I do deserve him,
Yet never know how that desert should be.
I know I love in vain, strive against hope;
Yet in this captious and intenable sieve
I still pour in the waters of my love                                        200
And lack not to lose still. Thus, Indian-like,
Religious in mine error, I adore
The sun that looks upon his worshipper,
But knows of him no more.

---

—————————-My dearest madam,
Let not your hate encounter with my love                             205
For loving where you do; but if yourself,
Whose aged honour cites a virtuous youth,
Did ever in so true a flame of liking
Wish chastely and love dearly, that your Dian
Was both herself and Love, O then give pity                         210
To her whose state is such that cannot choose
But lend and give where she is sure to lose;
That seeks not to find that her search implies,
But riddle-like lives sweetly where she dies.

Action Analysis

Beat 1:

Helena picks up her speech mid-line. She is pushed to confess her love by the Countess. The actress needs to pick up the cue (start the speech) as if she is blurting it out, or cutting off the Countess.

Her action here appears to simply be to make understand that she loves Bertram.

Beat 2:

The actress is given a pause before this beat starts; what is going on during that pause?

The beat is arguably a series of short beats made up of arguments for why the Countess should not be threatened by her love, or should overlook her inappropriate love for her son.

Beat 3: 

What makes this arguably a third beat in spite of the fact that the speech is a list of reasons why Helena’s love should be forgiven beginning after beat 1, is that the subject turns from Helena’s love as something harmless or to be dismissed, to an appeal to the Countess’ sense of empathy or compassion, as someone virtuous who may have loved before.