How we cite our quotes: Cloud 9. Caryl Churchill. Routledge, 2000.
Quote #1
"Shall we go in the barn and f---? It's not an order." (1.1.406)
Harry asks Joshua if he'd like to slip into the barn and have sex. But he also wants to make sure that the sex is consensual and that Joshua isn't doing it because he thinks he has to.
Quote #2
"Caroline, if you were shot with poisoned arrows do you know what I'd do? I'd f--- your dead body and poison myself." (39-41)
Okaaaaaay. So up until this point, Clive has been a prim and proper British man. But now he's throwing down the old necrophilia pickup line to explain to Mrs. Saunders how badly he wants to have sex with her. Well let's just add that one to all of the sexual taboos Churchill is ticking off her list in this play.
Quote #3
"You know what we did when you were here before. I want to do it again." (1.2.259-260)
When Edward is left alone with Harry Bagley, he mentions that he and Harry have had a sexual experience together (tick pedophilia off the taboo list, too). One thing that's especially strange about this scene is that it's the young Edward who's pressuring Harry to have a sexual encounter again, and it's Harry who's trying to refuse. Churchill never really stops trying to confuse us when it comes to our sense of sexual appropriateness.