Both Uses of
wretched
in
The Comedy of Errors
- A wretched soul, bruis'd with adversity, We bid be quiet when we hear it cry; But were we burd'ned with like weight of pain, As much, or more, we should ourselves complain: So thou, that hast no unkind mate to grieve thee, With urging helpless patience would relieve me: But if thou live to see like right bereft, This fool-begg'd patience in thee will be left.†
Scene 2.1wretched = miserable or very bad
- Hast thou delight to see a wretched man Do outrage and displeasure to himself?†
Scene 4.4 *
Definition:
very bad
in various senses, including:
- unfortunate or miserable -- as in "wretched prisoners sleeping on the cold floor"
- of poor quality -- as in "wretched roads"
- morally bad -- as in "The wretched woman stole his wallet."