Note to Twelfth Night, 1.4.41, "barful"

This is one of the many words that Shakespeare made up, and he's the only one who ever used it. It's too bad it didn't become a permanent part of the language, because it's a perfectly good word, even though it sounds like "barf," which didn't appear until 1960. "Barful" means "full of bars," and "bars" are barricades, like the bars that come down on each side of a railroad track when the train is about to pass by. Viola has a "barful strife" because "Whoe'er I woo, myself would be his wife"; she wants to be a loyal servant to Orsino and get him what he wants, which is Olivia's hand in marriage, but she's barred from that by her desire to be Orsino's wife herself, and she's barred from being Orsino's wife by her own promise to woo Olivia for Orsino. Also, he thinks she's a boy. It's a real "barful [and awful] strife."