“ … lend me ten thousand eyes,
And I will fill them with prophetic tears.” (Troilus and Cressida, act 2, sc. 2)
Tips for Use. In a business meeting or political speech. In the latter case emphasize that “the country is not on the right track”. Therefore, if you are elected all will be for the better. If your adversary wins it’s all doom and gloom – as per Cassandra’s accurate forecasting. Use the equivalent tactic in a business meeting pointing out the negative results you predict if a certain course of action is maintained and not changed.
On a larger scale, imperialism, turbo-capitalism, wars and destruction brought on independent countries in the name of “liberty and democracy” foretell a very ominous catastrophe for humanity. Still, the forces of greed, avarice and corruption, sustained by relentless propaganda, propagate the notion that profit, slaughter, death and destruction are all for the best.
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Of course, if you acquire the book “Your Daily Shakespeare” you will not only enjoy it but you will find it very useful. The quote in this post and more than ten thousand others will lead you to find the words that perfectly strengthen your argument(s). After all Shakespeare wrote them, I simply extracted, structured and compiled them so as to make Shakespeare very “user friendly” as they say. And if you wish I will even sign the book. But this is the extent of any “sales” effort, call or solicitation.
In the play. In Troy, Hector, Paris and other members of the royal family deliberate whether it is better to keep Helen or give her back to the Greeks, among whom there happens to be also Helen’s husband Menelaus. Cassandra, herself a daughter of King Priam, prophesies doom for Troy if Helen is not returned, but it is her fate not to be believed. Incidentally, it was Apollo, who stunned by Cassandra’s beauty conferred on the gift of accurate forecasting. Cassandra was described as the “second most beautiful woman in the world.” Her beauty was even compared to that of Venus and Helen herself. She could have made it to the Playboy spreads but for the fact that she was also intelligent.
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