Mojo, The Bard, & Me

Wednesday, September 29, 2021

O, what, am I

A mother to the birth of three? N’er mother

Rejoiced deliverance more.- Blest pray you be,

That, after this strange starting from your orbs,

You may reign in them now!- O Imogen,

Thou has lost by this a kingdom.

-Cymbeline

Cymbeline Act V, Scene v, Line 372

We are near the very end of the play Cymbeline. Just previously in the scene Cymbeline has found out that his long lost daughter, Imogen, is alive. Now, in today’s Totally Random lines he is finding out that he has two sons that he thought were lost as infants. So that’s the three that he’s referencing. It’s a pretty happy ending. I really don’t quite understand why this play is categorized as a tragedy. I'm also not one hundred percent clear why he's referring to himself as the mother to the birth of three. Father maybe, but mother?

I just so happen to have a pic of the three that I am father to. No, not mother. Father.

2 comments:

Squeaks said...: Well, he says "a mother" not "the mother". "The mother" would imply the only mother. But "a mother" can just be a sort of phrase - equating it to any person who is nurturing or caring - which even a father could be.
And then he says "n'er mother"? Does that mean "never mother" or "not mother" to contradict his previous phrase?
I'm also confused at the fact that this man lost three kids who showed up later. I certainly wouldn't be paying child support on that s-show.; September 29, 2021 at 12:10 PM
Pete Blagys said...: Indeed?; September 29, 2021 at 2:41 PM