A Midsummer Night's Dream: Act 3, Scene 2
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2. next: nearest, i.e., first. 3. in extremity: to the utmost degree.
5. night-rule: diversion for the night, night activity, night sport. haunted: much frequented.
Enter King of Fairies [OBERON].
OBERON
1
I wonder if Titania be awaked;
2
Then, what it was that next came in her eye,
3
Which she must dote on in extremity.
[Enter PUCK.]
4
Here comes my messenger. How now, mad spirit!
5
What night-rule now about this haunted grove?
PUCK
6
My mistress with a monster is in love.
7. close: secret.
7
Near to her close and consecrated bower,
8. dull: drowsy.
8
While she was in her dull and sleeping hour,
9. patches: clowns, fools. rude mechanicals: ignorant working men. 10. stalls: street or market booths where wares were sold.
9
A crew of patches, rude mechanicals,
10
That work for bread upon Athenian stalls,
11
Were met together to rehearse a play
12. Theseus' nuptial-day: Theseus' wedding day
12
Intended for great Theseus' nuptial-day.
13. thick-skin: blockhead. barren sort: stupid company or crew. 14. presented: acted.
13
The shallowest thick-skin of that barren sort,
14
Who Pyramus presented, in their sport
15. scene: playing place. brake: thicket.
15
Forsook his scene and enter'd in a brake
16
When I did him at this advantage take,
17. nole: noddle, head.
17
An ass's nole I fixed on his head:
18. anon: at once
18
Anon his Thisby must be answered,
19. mimic: burlesque actor.
19
And forth my mimic comes. When they him spy,
20. fowler: hunter of birds
20
As wild geese that the creeping fowler eye,
21. russet-pated choughs: grey-headed jackdaws. in sort: in company, in a flock, together.
21
Or russet-pated choughs, many in sort,
22
Rising and cawing at the gun's report,
23. Sever: i.e., Scatter.
23
Sever themselves and madly sweep the sky,
24
So, at his sight, away his fellows fly;
25. at our stamp: Puck's use of our instead of my has puzzled editors, as has a fairy's stamp . . . more 26. calls: calls for.
25
And, at our stamp, here o'er and o'er one falls;
26
He murder cries and help from Athens calls.
27
Their sense thus weak, lost with their fears thus strong,
28
Made senseless things begin to do them wrong;
29
For briers and thorns at their apparel snatch;
30
Some sleeves, some hats, from yielders all things catch.
31
I led them on in this distracted fear,
32. translated: transformed.
32
And left sweet Pyramus translated there:
33
When in that moment, so it came to pass,
34. ass: donkey.
34
Titania waked and straightway loved an ass.
OBERON
35. devise: make up.
35
This falls out better than I could devise.
36. latch'd: anointed.
36
But hast thou yet latch'd the Athenian's eyes
37
With the love-juice, as I did bid thee do?
PUCK
38
I took him sleeping,that is finish'd too,
39
And the Athenian woman by his side:
40. of force: perforce, necessarily.
40
That, when he waked, of force she must be eyed.
Enter DEMETRIUS and HERMIA.
OBERON
41
Stand close: this is the same Athenian.
PUCK
42
This is the woman, but not this the man.
DEMETRIUS
43
O, why rebuke you him that loves you so?
44
Lay breath so bitter on your bitter foe.
HERMIA
45
Now I but chide; but I should use thee worse,
46
For thou, I fear, hast given me cause to curse,
47
If thou hast slain Lysander in his sleep,
48
Being o'er shoes in blood, plunge in the deep,
49
And kill me too.
50
The sun was not so true unto the day
51
As he to me: would he have stolen away
52
From sleeping Hermia? I'll believe as soon
53. whole: solid. be bor'd: have a hole bored through it.
53
This whole earth may be bor'd and that the moon
54-55. so displease / Her brother's noontide: so displease the inhabitants of the Antipodes (on the other side of the earth) by displacing the noontide sun with the darkness of night. 57. dead: deathly pale.
54
May through the centre creep and so displease
55
Her brother's noontide with th' Antipodes.
56
It cannot be but thou hast murder'd him;
57
So should a murderer look, so dead, so grim.
DEMETRIUS
58
So should the murder'd look, and so should I,
59
Pierced through the heart with your stern cruelty:
60. clear: shining.
60
Yet you, the murderer, look as bright, as clear,
61. sphere: orbit.
61
As yonder Venus in her glimmering sphere.
HERMIA
62. What's this to: what has all this to do with.
62
What's this to my Lysander? where is he?
63
Ah, good Demetrius, wilt thou give him me?
DEMETRIUS
64
I had rather give his carcass to my hounds.
HERMIA
65
Out, dog! out, cur! thou drivest me past the bounds
66
Of maiden's patience. Hast thou slain him, then?
67
Henceforth be never number'd among men!
68
O, once tell true, tell true, even for my sake!
69
Durst thou have look'd upon him being awake,
70. brave touch: noble exploit. (Said ironically).
70
And hast thou kill'd him sleeping? O brave touch!
71. worm: snake, serpent.
71
Could not a worm, an adder, do so much?
72. An adder did it: Hermia is calling Demetrius a snake and a murderer.
72
An adder did it; for with doubler tongue
73
Than thine, thou serpent, never adder stung.
DEMETRIUS
74. passion on a misprised mood: passionate outburst in misconceived anger.
74
You spend your passion on a misprised mood:
75
I am not guilty of Lysander's blood;
76
Nor is he dead, for aught that I can tell.
HERMIA
77
I pray thee, tell me then that he is well.
DEMETRIUS
78
An if I could, what should I get therefore?
HERMIA
79
A privilege never to see me more.
80
And from thy hated presence part I so:
81
See me no more, whether he be dead or no.
Exit.
DEMETRIUS
82
There is no following her in this fierce vein:
83
Here therefore for a while I will remain.
84. heavier: harder to bear (with play on the sense "drowsier"). 85. bankrupt: Demetrius is saying that his sleepiness adds to the weariness caused by sorrow. 86-87. Which . . . stay: i.e., I will be able to "pay back" . . . more
84
So sorrow's heaviness doth heavier grow
85
For debt that bankrupt sleep doth sorrow owe:
86
Which now in some slight measure it will pay,
87
If for his tender here I make some stay.
Lie down [and sleep].
OBERON
88
What hast thou done? thou hast mistaken quite
89
And laid the love-juice on some true-love's sight:
90. misprision must perforce ensue: mistake must necessarily follow.
90
Of thy misprision must perforce ensue
91
Some true love turn'd and not a false turn'd true.
PUCK
92. troth: faith.
92
Then fate o'er-rules, that, one man holding troth,
93. A million fail, confounding oath an oath: Among the millions of faithless men, the one true man's oath is subverted by fate.
93
A million fail, confounding oath on oath.
OBERON
94
About the wood go swifter than the wind,
95
And Helena of Athens look thou find:
96. fancy-sick: lovesick. cheer: face.
96
All fancy-sick she is and pale of cheer,
97. With sighs of love, that costs the fresh blood dear: Each sigh was thought to draw a drop of blood from the heart. 99. against she do appear: in preparation for her arrival.
97
With sighs of love, that costs the fresh blood dear:
98
By some illusion see thou bring her here:
99
I'll charm his eyes against she do appear.
PUCK
100
I go, I go; look how I go,
101. arrow from the Tartar's bow: Proverbial for swiftness because Tartars (central Asian peoples) were famed for their skill with the bow.
101
Swifter than arrow from the Tartar's bow.
[Exit.]
OBERON
102
Flower of this purple dye,
103
Hit with Cupid's archery,
104. apple: pupil.
104
Sink in apple of his eye.
105
When his love he doth espy,
106
Let her shine as gloriously
107
As the Venus of the sky.
108
When thou wakest, if she be by,
109
Beg of her for remedy.
Enter PUCK.
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113. fee: right, privilege. 114. fond pageant: foolish show.
119. alone: unparalleled. 121. prepost'rously: out of the natural order.
PUCK
110
Captain of our fairy band,
111
Helena is here at hand;
112
And the youth, mistook by me,
113
Pleading for a lover's fee.
114
Shall we their fond pageant see?
115
Lord, what fools these mortals be!
OBERON
116
Stand aside: the noise they make
117
Will cause Demetrius to awake.
PUCK
118
Then will two at once woo one;
119
That must needs be sport alone;
120
And those things do best please me
121
That befall prepost'rously.
Enter LYSANDER and HELENA.
LYSANDER
122
Why should you think that I should woo in scorn?
123
Scorn and derision never come in tears:
124-125. vows so born, / In their nativity all truth appears: i.e., when vows are so born (made by someone who is weeping), the nature of their birth makes their sincerity credible. 127. badge: identifying mark (like the family crest or other device worn on livery to identify a gentleman's retainers).
124
Look, when I vow, I weep; and vows so born,
125
In their nativity all truth appears.
126
How can these things in me seem scorn to you,
127
Bearing the badge of faith, to prove them true?
HELENA
128. advance: carry forward, hold high, i.e., display. 129. fray: assault; attack.
128
You do advance your cunning more and more.
129
When truth kills truth, O devilish-holy fray!
130. give her o'er: give her up.
130
These vows are Hermia's: will you give her o'er?
131
Weigh oath with oath, and you will nothing weigh:
132
Your vows to her and me, put in two scales,
133. tales: lies.
133
Will even weigh, and both as light as tales.
LYSANDER
134
I had no judgment when to her I swore.
HELENA
135. give her o'er: give her up.
135
Nor none, in my mind, now you give her o'er.
LYSANDER
136
Demetrius loves her, and he loves not you.
DEMETRIUS [Awaking.]
137
O Helena, goddess, nymph, perfect, divine!
138. thine eyne: your eyes.
138
To what, my love, shall I compare thine eyne?
139. Crystal is muddy. O, how ripe in show: Demetrius says clear crystal is murky compared to the fully ripened appearance of Helena's lips. 141. Taurus: a lofty mountain range in Asiatic Turkey. 142. turns to a crow: i.e., seems black in comparison.
139
Crystal is muddy. O, how ripe in show
140
Thy lips, those kissing cherries, tempting grow!
141
That pure congealed white, high Taurus snow,
142
Fann'd with the eastern wind, turns to a crow
143
When thou hold'st up thy hand: O, let me kiss
144. seal: pledge.
144
This princess of pure white, this seal of bliss!
HELENA
145
O spite! O hell! I see you all are bent
146
To set against me for your merriment:
147
If you we re civil and knew courtesy,
148
You would not do me thus much injury.
149
Can you not hate me, as I know you do,
150
But you must join in souls to mock me too?
151. show: appearance.
151
If you were men, as men you are in show,
152
You would not use a gentle lady so;
153. superpraise: overpraise. parts: qualities.
153
To vow, and swear, and superpraise my parts,
154
When I am sure you hate me with your hearts.
155
You both are rivals, and love Hermia;
156
And now both rivals, to mock Helena:
157. trim: pretty, fine (said ironically).
157
A trim exploit, a manly enterprise,
158
To conjure tears up in a poor maid's eyes
159
With your derision! none of noble sort
160. extort: wring, twist, torture.
160
Would so offend a virgin, and extort
161
A poor soul's patience, all to make you sport.
LYSANDER
162
You are unkind, Demetrius; be not so;
163
For you love Hermia; this you know I know:
164
And here, with all good will, with all my heart,
165
In Hermia's love I yield you up my part;
166
And yours of Helena to me bequeath,
167
Whom I do love and will do till my death.
HELENA
168
Never did mockers waste more idle breath.
DEMETRIUS
169. I will none: i.e., I will have nothing to do with her.
169
Lysander, keep thy Hermia; I will none:
170
If e'er I loved her, all that love is gone.
171. as guest-wise sojourn'd: as a guest, I stayed temporarily.
171
My heart to her but as guest-wise sojourn'd,
172
And now to Helen is it home return'd,
173
There to remain.
LYSANDER
173
Helen, it is not so.
DEMETRIUS
174
Disparage not the faith thou dost not know,
175. aby: pay for, atone for.
175
Lest, to thy peril, thou aby it dear.
176
Look, where thy love comes; yonder is thy dear.
Enter HERMIA.
HERMIA
177
Dark night, that from the eye his function takes,
178
The ear more quick of apprehension makes;
179
Wherein it doth impair the seeing sense,
180
It pays the hearing double recompense.
181
Thou art not by mine eye, Lysander, found;
182
Mine ear, I thank it, brought me to thy sound
183
But why unkindly didst thou leave me so?
LYSANDER
184
Why should he stay, whom love doth press to go?
HERMIA
185
What love could press Lysander from my side?
LYSANDER
186
Lysander's love, that would not let him bide,
187. engilds the night: brightens the night with golden light. 188. oes: circles, orbs, i.e., stars.
187
Fair Helena, who more engilds the night
188
Than all you fiery oes and eyes of light.
189
Why seek'st thou me? could not this make thee know,
190
The hate I bear thee made me leave thee so?
HERMIA
191
You speak not as you think: it cannot be.
HELENA
192
Lo, she is one of this confederacy!
193
Now I perceive they have conjoin'd all three
194. in spite of me: to vex me.
194
To fashion this false sport, in spite of me.
195. Injurious: Insulting.
195
Injurious Hermia! most ungrateful maid!
196. contriv'd: plotted.
196
Have you conspired, have you with these contriv'd
197. bait: torment, as one sets on dogs to bait a bear.
198. counsel: private thoughts, confidential talk.
203. artificial: skilled in art, able to create.
208. incorporate: in one body united. 209. seeming: apparently.
211. lovely: loving.
213-214. Two of the first, like coats in heraldry, / Due but to one and crowned with one crest: "we had two . . . more 215. rent: rend.
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203. artificial: skilled in art, able to create.
208. incorporate: in one body united. 209. seeming: apparently.
211. lovely: loving.
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197
To bait me with this foul derision?
198
Is all the counsel that we two have shared,
199
The sisters' vows, the hours that we have spent,
200
When we have chid the hasty-footed time
201
For parting us,O, is it all forgot?
202
All school-days' friendship, childhood innocence?
203
We, Hermia, like two artificial gods,
204
Have with our needles created both one flower,
205
Both on one sampler, sitting on one cushion,
206
Both warbling of one song, both in one key,
207
As if our hands, our sides, voices and minds,
208
Had been incorporate. So we grow together,
209
Like to a double cherry, seeming parted,
210
But yet an union in partition;
211
Two lovely berries moulded on one stem;
212
So, with two seeming bodies, but one heart;
213
Two of the first, like coats in heraldry,
214
Due but to one and crowned with one crest.
215
And will you rent our ancient love asunder,
216
To join with men in scorning your poor friend?
217
It is not friendly, 'tis not maidenly:
218
Our sex, as well as I, may chide you for it,
219
Though I alone do feel the injury.
HERMIA
220. amazed: utterly bewildered.
220
I am amazed at your passionate words.
221
I scorn you not: it seems that you scorn me.
HELENA
222
Have you not set Lysander, as in scorn,
223
To follow me and praise my eyes and face?
224
And made your other love, Demetrius,
225. even but now: just now.
225
Who even but now did spurn me with his foot,
226
To call me goddess, nymph, divine and rare,
227
Precious, celestial? Wherefore speaks he this
228
To her he hates? and wherefore doth Lysander
229. your love: his love of you.
229
Deny your love, so rich within his soul,
230. tender me, forsooth: offer me, truly.
230
And tender me, forsooth, affection,
231. setting on: continuing.
231
But by your setting on, by your consent?
232. in grace: in favor; favored.
232
What though I be not so in grace as you,
233
So hung upon with love, so fortunate,
234. to love unloved: i.e., to suffer unrequited love.
234
But miserable most, to love unloved?
235
This you should pity rather than despise.
HERMIA
236
I understand not what you mean by this.
HELENA
237. Ay . . . looks: Yes, do continue faking serious, grave looks. 238. make mouths: make faces (mouths is a common corruption of mows, "grimaces"). upon: at. 239. hold the sweet jest up: carry the sweet jest on. 240. carried: managed.
237
Ay, do, persever, counterfeit sad looks,
238
Make mouths upon me when I turn my back;
239
Wink each at other; hold the sweet jest up:
240
This sport, well carried, shall be chronicled.
241
If you have any pity, grace, or manners,
242. argument: subject matter (for jesting).
242
You would not make me such an argument.
243
But fare ye well: 'tis partly my own fault;
244
Which death or absence soon shall remedy.
LYSANDER
245
Stay, gentle Helena; hear my excuse:
246
My love, my life my soul, fair Helena!
HELENA
247
O excellent!
HERMIA
247
Sweet, do not scorn her so.
DEMETRIUS
248. If she cannot entreat, I can compel: i.e., if Hermia cannot influence you by pleas, I can do so by force.
248
If she cannot entreat, I can compel.
LYSANDER
249
Thou canst compel no more than she entreat:
250
Thy threats have no more strength than her weak prayers.
251
Helen, I love thee; by my life, I do:
252
I swear by that which I will lose for thee,
253
To prove him false that says I love thee not.
DEMETRIUS
254
I say I love thee more than he can do.
LYSANDER
255
If thou say so, withdraw, and prove it too.
DEMETRIUS
256
Quick, come!
HERMIA
256
Lysander, whereto tends all this?
LYSANDER
257. Ethiope: blackamoor. Hermia is a brunette and has a dark complexion; see also Lysander's use of tawny Tartar in Line 263.
257
Away, you Ethiope!
DEMETRIUS
257
No, no; he'll
258
Seem to break loose; take on as you would follow,
259
But yet come not: you are a tame man, go!
LYSANDER
260
Hang off, thou cat, thou burr! vile thing, let loose,
261
Or I will shake thee from me like a serpent!
HERMIA
262
Why are you grown so rude? what change is this?
263
Sweet love?
LYSANDER
263. tawny Tartar: brownish central Asian peoples.
263
Thy love! out, tawny Tartar, out!
264. med'cine: i.e., poison.
264
Out, loathed med'cine! hated potion, hence!
HERMIA
265
Do you not jest?
HELENA
265. sooth: truly.
265
Yes, sooth; and so do you.
LYSANDER
266
Demetrius, I will keep my word with thee.
DEMETRIUS
267
I would I had your bond, for I perceive
268. weak bond: i.e., Hermia's arms. Demetrius implies that Lysander is not trying very hard to break away from her (with a pun on bond, oath, in the previous line).
268
A weak bond holds you: I'll not trust your word.
LYSANDER
269
What, should I hurt her, strike her, kill her dead?
270
Although I hate her, I'll not harm her so.
HERMIA
271
What, can you do me greater harm than hate?
272. what news: what is the matter.
272
Hate me! wherefore? O me! what news, my love!
273
Am not I Hermia? are not you Lysander?
274. erewhile: just now.
274
I am as fair now as I was erewhile.
275. Since night: i.e., last night.
275
Since night you loved me; yet since night you left me:
276
Why, then you left meO, the gods forbid!
277
In earnest, shall I say?
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by John Simmons 1870 |
282. you canker-blossom: you worm-eaten blossom.
LYSANDER
277
Ay, by my life;
278
And never did desire to see thee more.
279
Therefore be out of hope, of question, of doubt;
280
Be certain, nothing truer; 'tis no jest
281
That I do hate thee and love Helena.
HERMIA
282
O me! you juggler! you canker-blossom!
283
You thief of love! what, have you come by night
284
And stolen my love's heart from him?
HELENA
284
Fine, i'faith!
285
Have you no modesty, no maiden shame,
286
No touch of bashfulness? What, will you tear
287
Impatient answers from my gentle tongue?
288. puppet: i.e., counterfeit, a fake doll instead of a woman, but Hermia takes it as a reference to her small stature. (cf. the preceding use of counterfeit "counterfeit sad looks")
288
Fie, fie! you counterfeit, you puppet, you!
HERMIA
289
Puppet? why so? ay, that way goes the game.
290
Now I perceive that she hath made compare
291
Between our statures; she hath urged her height;
292. personage: figure.
292
And with her personage, her tall personage,
293
Her height, forsooth, she hath prevail'd with him.
294
And are you grown so high in his esteem;
295. low: short.
295
Because I am so dwarfish and so low?
296
How low am I, thou painted maypole? speak;
297
How low am I? I am not yet so low
298
But that my nails can reach unto thine eyes.
HELENA
299
I pray you, though you mock me, gentlemen,
300. curst: shrewish, sharp-tongued.
300
Let her not hurt me: I was never curst;
301. shrewishness: ill-natured, ill-tempered; of a sharp or cross-grained nature. 302. right: real, true. for: with respect to.
301
I have no gift at all in shrewishness;
302
I am a right maid for my cowardice:
303
Let her not strike me. You perhaps may think,
304. something lower: somewhat shorter.
304
Because she is something lower than myself,
305. match: be a match for.
305
That I can match her.
HERMIA
305
"Lower"? hark, again.
HELENA
306
Good Hermia, do not be so bitter with me.
307. evermore: at all times.
307
I evermore did love you, Hermia,
308. counsels: secrets.
308
Did ever keep your counsels, never wrong'd you;
309
Save that, in love unto Demetrius,
310. stealth: stealing away.
310
I told him of your stealth unto this wood.
311
He follow'd you; for love I follow'd him;
312
But he hath chid me hence and threaten'd me
313
To strike me, spurn me, nay, to kill me too:
314. so: if only.
314
And now, so you will let me quiet go,
315
To Athens will I bear my folly back
316
And follow you no further: let me go:
317. fond: foolish.
317
You see how simple and how fond I am.
HERMIA
318
Why, get you gone: who is't that hinders you?
HELENA
319
A foolish heart, that I leave here behind.
HERMIA
320
What, with Lysander?
HELENA
320
With Demetrius.
LYSANDER
321
Be not afraid; she shall not harm thee, Helena.
DEMETRIUS
322
No, sir, she shall not, though you take her part.
HELENA
323. keen and shrewd: clever and shrewish, sharp-tongued (synonymous with curst in line 300).
324. vixen: shrew (literally, she-fox).
327. flout: mock.
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327. flout: mock.
323
O, when she's angry, she is keen and shrewd!
324
She was a vixen when she went to school;
325
And though she be but little, she is fierce.
HERMIA
326
"Little" again! nothing but "low" and "little"!
327
Why will you suffer her to flout me thus?
328
Let me come to her.
LYSANDER
328
Get you gone, you dwarf;
329. minimus: diminutive creature. knot-grass: a weed that was thought to stunt the growth of animals or children.
329
You minimus, of hindering knot-grass made;
330
You bead, you acorn.
DEMETRIUS
330. officious: ready to do kind offices; eager to serve, help, or please.
330
You are too officious
331
In her behalf that scorns your services.
332
Let her alone: speak not of Helena;
333. intend: give sign of, offer; or, possibly, pretend.
333
Take not her part; for, if thou dost intend
334
Never so little show of love to her,
335. aby: pay for.
335
Thou shalt aby it.
LYSANDER
335
Now she holds me not;
336
Now follow, if thou darest, to try whose right,
337
Of thine or mine, is most in Helena.
DEMETRIUS
338. cheek by jowl: side by side.
338
Follow! nay, I'll go with thee, cheek by jowl.
[Exeunt LYSANDER and DEMETRIUS.]
HERMIA
339. coil: turmoil, dissension, uproar. 'long of: on account of, because of. 340. go not back: i.e., don't retreat. (Hermia is again proposing a fight).
339
You, mistress, all this coil is 'long of you:
340
Nay, go not back.
HELENA
340
I will not trust you, I,
341. curst: damnable.
341
Nor longer stay in your curst company.
342. quicker for a fray: more ready to fight.
342
Your hands than mine are quicker for a fray,
343
My legs are longer though, to run away.
[Exit.]
HERMIA
344
I am amazed, and know not what to say.
Exit.
OBERON
345. still thou mistakest: you continually make mistakes. 346. knaveries: dishonest or crafty behaviour; unscrupulousness; trickery. wilfully: on purpose.
345
This is thy negligence: still thou mistakest,
346
Or else committ'st thy knaveries wilfully.
PUCK
347. I mistook: i.e., it was a mistake.
347
Believe me, king of shadows, I mistook.
348
Did not you tell me I should know the man
349
By the Athenian garment be had on?
350. so far: to this extent. enterprise: undertaking.
350
And so far blameless proves my enterprise,
351
That I have 'nointed an Athenian's eyes;
352. sort: turn out.
352
And so far am I glad it so did sort
353. As: that. jangling: disputing, wrangling.
353
As this their jangling I esteem a sport.
OBERON
354
Thou see'st these lovers seek a place to fight:
355. Hie: Hasten.
355
Hie therefore, Robin, overcast the night;
356. welkin: sky.
356
The starry welkin cover thou anon
357. Acheron: a river of Hades; here, Hades itself.
357
With drooping fog as black as Acheron,
358. testy: agressive; rash.
358
And lead these testy rivals so astray
359. As: That
359
As one come not within another's way.
360. frame: shape; compose.
360
Like to Lysander sometime frame thy tongue,
361
Then stir Demetrius up with bitter wrong;
362. rail: protest; complain.
362
And sometime rail thou like Demetrius;
363
And from each other look thou lead them thus,
364
Till o'er their brows death-counterfeiting sleep
365. batty: batlike.
365
With leaden legs and batty wings doth creep:
366. this herb: i.e., the herb that Oberon has mentioned (II.i.184) as the antidote to love-in-idleness. 367. virtuous: efficacious, powerful. 368. with his might: by its efficacy. 369. wonted: accustomed.
366
Then crush this herb into Lysander's eye;
367
Whose liquor hath this virtuous property,
368
To take from thence all error with his might,
369
And make his eyeballs roll with wonted sight.
370. derision: laughable mockery.
370
When they next wake, all this derision
371. fruitless: having no effect, inconsequential.
371
Shall seem a dream and fruitless vision,
372
And back to Athens shall the lovers wend,
373. league: covenant. date: term of existence, duration.
373
With league whose date till death shall never end.
374
Whiles I in this affair do thee employ,
375
I'll to my queen and beg her Indian boy;
376
And then I will her charmed eye release
377
From monster's view, and all things shall be peace.
PUCK
378
My fairy lord, this must be done with haste,
379. dragons: i.e., those that were supposed to draw the chariot of the goddess of night. full: very. 380. Aurora's harbinger: the precursor of dawn. i.e., the morning star.
379
For night's swift dragons cut the clouds full fast,
380
And yonder shines Aurora's harbinger;
381
At whose approach, ghosts, wandering here and there,
382-383. damned spirits all, / That in crossways and floods have burial: Suicides were commonly buried at crossroads; to these Puck adds those who have drowned themselves and whose bodies have not been recovered who would be condemned to wander disconsolate for want of burial rites. 387. for aye: forever.
389. the Morning's love: Cephalus, lover of Aurora . . . more 390. like: in the guise of. forester: keeper of a royal forest or hunting preserve. 392. Neptune: god of the sea.
|
389. the Morning's love: Cephalus, lover of Aurora . . . more 390. like: in the guise of. forester: keeper of a royal forest or hunting preserve. 392. Neptune: god of the sea.
382
Troop home to churchyards: damned spirits all,
383
That in crossways and floods have burial,
384
Already to their wormy beds are gone;
385
For fear lest day should look their shames upon,
386
They willfully themselves exile from light
387
And must for aye consort with black-brow'd night.
OBERON
388
But we are spirits of another sort:
389
I with the morning's love have oft made sport,
390
And, like a forester, the groves may tread,
391
Even till the eastern gate, all fiery-red,
392
Opening on Neptune with fair blessed beams,
393
Turns into yellow gold his salt green streams.
394
But, notwithstanding, haste; make no delay:
395
We may effect this business yet ere day.
[Exit.]
PUCK
396
Up and down, up and down,
397
I will lead them up and down:
398
I am fear'd in field and town:
399
Goblin, lead them up and down.
400
Here comes one.
Enter LYSANDER.
LYSANDER
401
Where art thou, proud Demetrius? speak thou now.
PUCK
402. drawn: with drawn sword.
402
Here, villain; drawn and ready. Where art thou?
LYSANDER
403. straight: immediately, straightway.
403
I will be with thee straight.
PUCK
403
Follow me, then,
404. plainer: smoother, more level.
404
To plainer ground.
[Exit LYSANDER, as following the voice.]
Enter DEMETRIUS.
DEMETRIUS
404
Lysander! speak again:
405
Thou runaway, thou coward, art thou fled?
406
Speak! In some bush? Where dost thou hide thy head?
PUCK
407
Thou coward, art thou bragging to the stars,
408
Telling the bushes that thou look'st for wars,
409. recreant: cowardly wretch.
409
And wilt not come? Come, recreant; come, thou child;
410
I'll whip thee with a rod: he is defiled
411
That draws a sword on thee.
DEMETRIUS
411
Yea, art thou there?
PUCK
412. try: test.
412
Follow my voice: we'll try no manhood here.
Exeunt.
[Enter LYSANDER.]
LYSANDER
413
He goes before me and still dares me on:
414
When I come where he calls, then he is gone.
415
The villain is much lighter-heel'd than I:
416
I follow'd fast, but faster he did fly;
417. uneven: rough.
417
That fallen am I in dark uneven way,
418
And here will rest me.
[Lies down.]
418
Come, thou gentle day!
419
For if but once thou show me thy grey light,
420
I'll find Demetrius and revenge this spite.
[Sleeps.]
[Enter] ROBIN [PUCK] and DEMETRIUS.
PUCK
421
Ho, ho, ho! Coward, why comest thou not?
DEMETRIUS
422. Abide me: face me in fight. wot: know.
422
Abide me, if thou darest; for well I wot
423
Thou runn'st before me, shifting every place,
424
And darest not stand, nor look me in the face.
425
Where art thou now?
PUCK
425
Come hither: I am here.
DEMETRIUS
426. buy: aby, pay for. dear: dearly.
426
Nay, then, thou mock'st me. Thou shalt buy this dear,
427
If ever I thy face by daylight see:
428
Now, go thy way. Faintness constraineth me
429. measure out my length: i.e., stretch out.
429
To measure out my length on this cold bed.
430
By day's approach look to be visited.
[Lies down and sleeps.]
Enter HELENA.
HELENA
431
O weary night, O long and tedious night,
432. Abate: lessen, shorten.
432
Abate thy hour! Shine comforts from the east,
433
That I may back to Athens by daylight,
434
From these that my poor company detest:
435
And sleep, that sometimes shuts up sorrow's eye,
436
Steal me awhile from mine own company.
Sleep.
PUCK
437
Yet but three? Come one more;
438
Two of both kinds make up four.
[Enter HERMIA.]
439. curst: ill-tempered.
439
Here she comes, curst and sad:
440. Cupid is a knavish lad: knavish has two connotations: (dishonest, unprincipled; unscrupulous, villainous) or (mischievous, waggish; roguish).
440
Cupid is a knavish lad,
441
Thus to make poor females mad.
HERMIA
442
Never so weary, never so in woe,
443
Bedabbled with the dew and torn with briers,
444. go: walk.
444
I can no further crawl, no further go;
445
My legs can keep no pace with my desires.
446
Here will I rest me till the break of day.
447. a fray: i.e., to fight.
447
Heavens shield Lysander, if they mean a fray!
[Lies down and sleeps.]
PUCK
448
On the ground
449
Sleep sound:
450
I'll apply
451
To your eye,
452
Gentle lover, remedy.
[Squeezing the juice on LYSANDER's eyes.]
453
When thou wakest,
454
Thou takest
455
True delight
456
In the sight
457
Of thy former lady's eye:
458
And the country proverb known,
459
That every man should take his own,
460
In your waking shall be shown:
461
Jack shall have Jill;
462
Nought shall go ill;
463
The man shall have his mare again, and all shall be well.
Exit.