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Heart in hand

Posted by ESC on May 28, 2003

In Reply to: Heart in hand posted by Shae on May 28, 2003

: : : Can you please help me with the meaning of the saying, "heart in hand" ? Thanks so much.

: : I've never heard that expression. I've heard "hat in hand" and "heart on your sleeve."

: : From "Brush Up Your Shakespeare!" by Michael Macrone (Gramercy Books, New York, 1990):
: : "Heart on My Sleeve.
: : IAGO:
: : It is sure as you are Roderigo,
: : Were I the Moor, I would not be Iago.
: : In following him, I follow but myself;
: : Heaven is my judge, not I for love and duty,
: : But seeming so, for my peculiar end;
: : For when my outward action doth demonstrate
: : The native act and figure of my heart
: : In complement extern, 'tis not long after
: : But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve.
: : For daws to peck at. I am not what I am.
: : Othello, Act 1, scene 1, 56-65

: : .when your heart is displayed so openly, as if upon your sleeve, the 'daws' (jackdaws) will accept the invitation to pick away at it. By admitting to his treachery, Iago would seem, in effect, to 'wear his heart on his sleeve' for Roderigo. Yet, while Iago tells the truth, he doesn't tell all of it, and keeps hidden his true 'native act and figure' - his intention to dupe Roderigo out of even more jewels and cash."

: Bartleby's on-line dictionary has:

: WILLINGLY &c. adj.; fain, freely, as lief, heart and soul; with pleasure, with all one's heart, with open arms; with good will, with right good will; de bonne volonté [F.], ex animo [L.], con amore [It.], heart in hand, nothing loath, without reluctance, of one's own accord, graciously, with a good grace; without demur.

"Heart in hand" sounds like the title of a murder mystery.

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