How we cite our quotes: (Act.Scene.Line)
Quote #1
COUNTESS
In delivering my son from me, I bury a second
husband. (1.1.1-2)
Hmm. This is quite a depressing opening line, wouldn't you say? Basically, the countess compares the act of "delivering" (saying goodbye to) her son to the recent loss of her late husband. We also notice that her use of the word "delivering" is also a pun on the act of delivering a baby, which creates a connection between childbirth and death.
Quote #2
LAFEW
He hath abandoned his physicians, madam,
under whose practices he hath persecuted time
with hope, and finds no other advantage in the
process but only the losing of hope by time. (1.1.14-17)
Okay. Not only has Bertram's father died when the play opens, but we also find out that the king of France is on his death bed. Way to set a dark tone for the entire play, Shakespeare.
Quote #3
COUNTESS
This young gentlewoman had a father—O,
that 'had,' how sad a passage 'tis!—whose skill
was almost as great as his honesty; had it stretched
so far, would have made nature immortal, and
death should have play for lack of work. Would, for
the King's sake he were living! I think it would be
the death of the king's disease. (1.1.18-24)
Another dead dad? You've got to be kidding, right? Here, we learn that Helen has also lost a father. Not only that, but he was the only guy in the world who could have cured the king's mysterious illness.