Quotes · Quote card

Quotation from The Winter's Tale by William Shakespeare

“There may be in the cup A spider steep’d, and one may drink, depart, And yet partake no venom, for his knowledge Is not infected; but if one present Th’ abhorr’d ingredient to his eye, make known How he hath drunk, he cracks his gorge, his sides, With violent hefts. I have drunk, and seen the spider”

William Shakespeare (spoken by Leontes)

The Winter's Tale, Act 2, Scene 1 (Project Gutenberg #1539 (modernised spelling))

Hearing of Camillo's flight, Leontes uses the folk belief that a spider poisons only when seen to describe how knowledge of betrayal sickens him.

Citation: "There may be in the cup A spider steep’d, and one may drink, depart, And yet partake no venom, for his knowledge Is not infected; but if one present Th’ abhorr’d ingredient to his eye, make known How he hath drunk, he cracks his gorge, his sides, With violent hefts. I have drunk, and seen the spider" — William Shakespeare, The Winter's Tale, Act 2, Scene 1 (Project Gutenberg #1539 (modernised spelling)). (id the-winters-tale-q5)

Download card (PNG)

Quote card: There may be in the cup A spider steep’d, and one may drink, depart, And yet par