Cymbeline

Cymbeline

by

William Shakespeare

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The Second Lord Character Analysis

Read our modern English translation.
One of the two Lords who attend Cloten and give crucial information about his character. Unlike the First Lord, the Second Lord seems not to respect Cloten, making many snide remarks to the audience about Cloten and disputing Cloten’s interpretations of events. This lord supports Imogen’s decision not to marry Cloten and he comments on Cloten’s foul odor and foolishness. However, he pretends to be a dutiful attendant to Cloten’s face.

The Second Lord Quotes in Cymbeline

The Cymbeline quotes below are all either spoken by The Second Lord or refer to The Second Lord. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Morality and Loyalty Theme Icon
).
Act 2, Scene 1 Quotes

That such a crafty devil as is his mother
Should yield the world this ass! a woman that
Bears all down with her brain; and this her son
Cannot take two from twenty, for his heart
And leave eighteen. Alas, poor princess,
Thou divine Imogen, what thou endurest,
Betwixt a father by thy step-dame govern’d,
A mother hourly coining plots, a wooer
More hateful than the foul expulsion is
Of thy dear husband, than that horrid act
Of the divorce he’ld make! The heavens hold firm
The walls of thy dear honour, keep unshaked
That temple, thy fair mind, that thou mayst stand,
To enjoy thy banish’d lord and this great land!

Related Characters: The Second Lord (speaker), Imogen/Fidele , The Queen, Cloten
Page Number: 2.1.54-67
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Cymbeline LitChart as a printable PDF.
Cymbeline PDF

The Second Lord Quotes in Cymbeline

The Cymbeline quotes below are all either spoken by The Second Lord or refer to The Second Lord. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Morality and Loyalty Theme Icon
).
Act 2, Scene 1 Quotes

That such a crafty devil as is his mother
Should yield the world this ass! a woman that
Bears all down with her brain; and this her son
Cannot take two from twenty, for his heart
And leave eighteen. Alas, poor princess,
Thou divine Imogen, what thou endurest,
Betwixt a father by thy step-dame govern’d,
A mother hourly coining plots, a wooer
More hateful than the foul expulsion is
Of thy dear husband, than that horrid act
Of the divorce he’ld make! The heavens hold firm
The walls of thy dear honour, keep unshaked
That temple, thy fair mind, that thou mayst stand,
To enjoy thy banish’d lord and this great land!

Related Characters: The Second Lord (speaker), Imogen/Fidele , The Queen, Cloten
Page Number: 2.1.54-67
Explanation and Analysis: