A Midsummer Night's Dream: Act 4, Scene 1
Enter Queen of Fairies [TITANIA] and Clown [BOTTOM],
and Fairies [PEASEBLOSSOM, COBWEB, MOTH,
MUSTARDSEED, and other Fairies attending]; and the King
[OBERON] behind them [unseen].
TITANIA
1
Come, sit thee down upon this flowery bed,
2
While I thy amiable cheeks do coy,
3
And stick musk-roses in thy sleek smooth head,
4
And kiss thy fair large ears, my gentle joy.
BOTTOM
5
Where's Peaseblossom?
PEASEBLOSSOM
6
Ready.
BOTTOM
7
Scratch my head Peaseblossom. Where's
8
Mounsieur Cobweb?
COBWEB
9
Ready.
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16. overflown with: submerged by.
19. neaf: fist.
20. leave your curtsy: i.e., put on your hat.
BOTTOM
10
Mounsieur Cobweb, good mounsieur, get you your
11
weapons in your hand, and kill me a red-hipped
12
humble-bee on the top of a thistle; and, good
13
mounsieur, bring me the honey-bag. Do not fret
14
yourself too much in the action, mounsieur; and,
15
good mounsieur, have a care the honey-bag break not;
16
I would be loath to have you overflown with a
17
honey-bag, signior. Where's Mounsieur Mustardseed?
MUSTARDSEED
18
Ready.
BOTTOM
19
Give me your neaf, Mounsieur Mustardseed. Pray you,
20
leave your courtesy, good mounsieur.
MUSTARDSEED
21
What's your Will?
BOTTOM
22
Nothing, good mounsieur, but to help
23. Cavalery: cavalier (form of address for a fashionable gentleman). Cobweb Peaseblossom has been asked to do the scratching. This may be Shakespeare's slip or Bottom's.
23
Cavalery Cobweb to scratch. I must to the barber's,
24
monsieur; for methinks I am marvellous hairy
25
about the face; and I am such a tender ass, if my hair
26
do but tickle me, I must scratch.
TITANIA
27
What, wilt thou hear some music, my sweet love?
BOTTOM
28
I have a reasonable good ear in music. Let's have
29. tongs and the bones: rustic musical instruments; the tongs were struck with a key (as a triangle), and the bones were rattled between the fingers (as clappers).
29
the tongs and the bones.
[Music. Tongs. Rural music.]
TITANIA
30
Or say, sweet love, what thou desirest to eat.
BOTTOM
31. provender: fodder.
31
Truly, a peck of provender: I could munch
32
your good dry oats. Methinks I have a great
33. bottle: bundle. Bottle is an old-fashioned, rural word for "small bundle." Shakespeare's audience might know this, but they would probably laugh at the absurd idea that hay would come in a glass bottle, like ale. 34. fellow: equal.
39. exposition: Bottom's blunder for disposition, i.e., desire, inclination.
41. all ways away: off in all directions.
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39. exposition: Bottom's blunder for disposition, i.e., desire, inclination.
41. all ways away: off in all directions.
33
desire to a bottle of hay: good hay, sweet hay,
34
hath no fellow.
TITANIA
35
I have a venturous fairy that shall seek
36
The squirrel's hoard, and fetch thee new nuts.
BOTTOM
37
I had rather have a handful or two of dried peas.
38
But, I pray you, let none of your people stir me: I
39
have an exposition of sleep come upon me.
TITANIA
40
Sleep thou, and I will wind thee in my arms.
41
Fairies, begone, and be all ways away.
[Exeunt fairies.]
42
So doth the woodbine the sweet honeysuckle
43
Gently entwist; the female ivy so
44
Enrings the barky fingers of the elm.
45
O, how I love thee! how I dote on thee!
[They sleep.]
Enter ROBIN GOODFELLOW [PUCK].
OBERON [Advancing.]
46
Welcome, good Robin. See'st thou this sweet sight?
47. Her dotage: Titania.
47
Her dotage now I do begin to pity:
48
For, meeting her of late behind the wood,
49. favors: i.e., flowers as love gifts.
49
Seeking sweet favors from this hateful fool,
50. I . . . her: Oberon speaks of what he imagined when he saw Titania with Bottom. 51. rounded: encircled.
53. sometime: formerly.
54. orient pearls: i.e., the most beautiful of pearls. 55. flouriets': flowerets'.
64. scalp: skull.
66. other: others.
68. accidents: events, incidents. 69. fierce: excessive, wild.
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53. sometime: formerly.
54. orient pearls: i.e., the most beautiful of pearls. 55. flouriets': flowerets'.
64. scalp: skull.
66. other: others.
68. accidents: events, incidents. 69. fierce: excessive, wild.
50
I did upbraid her and fall out with her;
51
For she his hairy temples then had rounded
52
With a coronet of fresh and fragrant flowers;
53
And that same dew, which sometime on the buds
54
Was wont to swell like round and orient pearls,
55
Stood now within the pretty flouriets' eyes
56
Like tears that did their own disgrace bewail.
57
When I had at my pleasure taunted her
58
And she in mild terms begg'd my patience,
59
I then did ask of her her changeling child;
60
Which straight she gave me, and her fairy sent
61
To bear him to my bower in fairy land.
62
And now I have the boy, I will undo
63
This hateful imperfection of her eyes:
64
And, gentle Puck, take this transformed scalp
65
From off the head of this Athenian swain;
66
That, he awaking when the other do,
67
May all to Athens back again repair
68
And think no more of this night's accidents
69
But as the fierce vexation of a dream.
70
But first I will release the fairy queen.
[Squeezes juice in her eyes.]
71
Be as thou wast wont to be;
72
See as thou wast wont to see:
73
Dian's bud o'er Cupid's flower
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74
Hath such force and blessed power.
75
Now, my Titania; wake you, my sweet queen.
TITANIA
76
My Oberon! what visions have I seen!
77
Methought I was enamour'd of an ass.
OBERON
78
There lies your love.
TITANIA
78
How came these things to pass?
79
O, how mine eyes do loathe his visage now!
OBERON
80
Silence awhile. Robin, take off this head.
81
Titania, music call; and strike more dead
82. these five: i.e., the four lovers and Bottom.
82
Than common sleep of all these five the sense.
TITANIA
83
Music, ho! music, such as charmeth sleep!
[Music, still.] i.e., soft music.
[Music, still.]
PUCK
84
Now, when thou wakest, with thine own fool's eyes peep.
OBERON
85. Sound, music!: Louder, music!.
85
Sound, music! Come, my queen, take hands with me,
86
And rock the ground whereon these sleepers be.
87. new in amity: renewed in "friendship, friendliness; friendly relations; especially of public characters." 88. solemnly: ceremoniously.
87
Now thou and I are new in amity,
88
And will tomorrow midnight solemnly
89
Dance in Duke Theseus' house triumphantly,
90
And bless it to all fair prosperity:
91
There shall the pairs of faithful lovers be
92
Wedded, with Theseus, all in jollity.
PUCK
93. mark: note.
93
Fairy king, attend, and mark:
94
I do hear the morning lark.
OBERON
95. sad: sober; serious.
95
Then, my queen, in silence sad,
96
Trip we after the night's shade:
97. compass: orbit.
97
We the globe can compass soon,
98
Swifter than the wandering moon.
TITANIA
99
Come, my lord, and in our flight
100
Tell me how it came this night
101
That I sleeping here was found
102
With these mortals on the ground.
Wind horn: Blow horn.
Exeunt. Wind horn.
Enter THESEUS, [HIPPOLYTA, EGEUS,]
and all his train.
THESEUS
103. forester: one who looks after the growing timber on an estate. 104. observation: observance, May-day rites (cf. 1.1.l67). 105. vaward: vanguard, early part.
103
Go, one of you, find out the forester;
104
For now our observation is perform'd;
105
And since we have the vaward of the day,
106
My love shall hear the music of my hounds.
107. Uncouple: Release (the dogs grouped in pairs).
107
Uncouple in the western valley; let them go:
108. Dispatch: make haste.
108
Dispatch, I say, and find the forester.
[Exit an Attendant.]
109
We will, fair queen, up to the mountain's top,
110
And mark the musical confusion
111
Of hounds and echo in conjunction.
HIPPOLYTA
112. Cadmus: mythical founder of Thebes (this story about him is unkown). 113. bay'd: brought to baytrapped with no escape from the hunters. 114. hounds of Sparta: a breed famous in antiquity for their hunting ability. 115. chiding: baying; barking.
120. flew'd: having a fleshy covering of the jaw. sanded: of a sandy color. 122. dewlapp'd: having a hanging flap of skin at the throat. 123-124. match'd . . . each: with voices of varying but harmonious pitch, like a peal of bells. 124. cry: pack of hounds. tuneable: melodious. 127. soft: stop.
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120. flew'd: having a fleshy covering of the jaw. sanded: of a sandy color. 122. dewlapp'd: having a hanging flap of skin at the throat. 123-124. match'd . . . each: with voices of varying but harmonious pitch, like a peal of bells. 124. cry: pack of hounds. tuneable: melodious. 127. soft: stop.
112
I was with Hercules and Cadmus once,
113
When in a wood of Crete they bay'd the bear
114
With hounds of Sparta: never did I hear
115
Such gallant chiding: for, besides the groves,
116
The skies, the fountains, every region near
117
Seem'd all one mutual cry: I never heard
118
So musical a discord, such sweet thunder.
THESEUS
119
My hounds are bred out of the Spartan kind,
120
So flew'd, so sanded, and their heads are hung
121
With ears that sweep away the morning dew;
122
Crook-knee'd, and dewlapp'd like Thessalian bulls;
123
Slow in pursuit, but match'd in mouth like bells,
124
Each under each. A cry more tuneable
125
Was never holla'd to, nor cheer'd with horn,
126
In Crete, in Sparta, nor in Thessaly:
127
Judge when you hear. But, soft! what nymphs are these?
EGEUS
128. this': this is.
128
My lord, this' my daughter here asleep;
129
And this, Lysander; this Demetrius is;
130
This Helena, old Nedar's Helena:
131
I wonder of their being here together.
THESEUS
132
No doubt they rose up early to observe
133
The rite of May, and hearing our intent,
134. in grace our solemnity: to honor our observance of the same rites of May.
134
Came here in grace our solemnity.
135
But speak, Egeus; is not this the day
136
That Hermia should give answer of her choice?
EGEUS
137
It is, my lord.
THESEUS
138
Go, bid the huntsmen wake them with their horns.
[Exit an Attendant.] Shout within. Wind horns.
They all start up.
139. Saint Valentine: It was supposed that birds chose their mates on St. Valentine's Day.
139
Good morrow, friends. Saint Valentine is past:
140
Begin these wood-birds but to couple now?
LYSANDER
141
Pardon, my lord.
THESEUS
141
I pray you all, stand up.
142
I know you two are rival enemies:
143
How comes this gentle concord in the world,
144. jealousy: suspicion, apprehension of evil.
144
That hatred is so far from jealousy,
145. To sleep by hate: as to sleep side by side wilh a foe.
145
To sleep by hate, and fear no enmity?
LYSANDER
146. amazedly: perplexedly.
146
My lord, I shall reply amazedly,
147
Half sleep, half waking: but as yet, I swear,
148
I cannot truly say how I came here;
149
But, as I think,for truly would I speak,
150
And now do I bethink me, so it is,
151
I came with Hermia hither: our intent
152. where we might: wherever we could.
152
Was to be gone from Athens, where we might,
153. Without the peril: beyond the dangerous reach.
153
Without the peril of the Athenian law,
EGEUS
154
Enough, enough, my lord; you have enough:
155
I beg the law, the law, upon his head.
156
They would have stolen away; they would, Demetrius,
157. defeated: defrauded.
163. fancy: love. 164. wot: know.
167. idle gaud: worthless trinket.
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163. fancy: love. 164. wot: know.
167. idle gaud: worthless trinket.
157
Thereby to have defeated you and me,
158
You of your wife and me of my consent,
159
Of my consent that she should be your wife.
DEMETRIUS
160
My lord, fair Helen told me of their stealth,
161
Of this their purpose hither to this wood;
162
And I in fury hither follow'd them,
163
Fair Helena in fancy following me.
164
But, my good lord, I wot not by what power,
165
But by some power it is,my love to Hermia,
166
Melted as the snow, seems to me now
167
As the remembrance of an idle gaud
168
Which in my childhood I did dote upon;
169
And all the faith, the virtue of my heart,
170
The object and the pleasure of mine eye,
171
Is only Helena. To her, my lord,
172
Was I betroth'd ere I saw Hermia:
173
But, like in sickness, did I loathe this food;
174
But, as in health, come to my natural taste,
175
Now I do wish it, love it, long for it,
176
And will for evermore be true to it.
THESEUS
177
Fair lovers, you are fortunately met:
178. anon: shortly.
178
Of this discourse we more will hear anon.
179
Egeus, I will overbear your will;
180
For in the temple by and by with us
181
These couples shall eternally be knit:
182. for: since. something: somewhat
182
And, for the morning now is something worn,
183
Our purposed hunting shall be set aside.
184
Away with us to Athens; three and three,
185
We'll hold a feast in great solemnity.
186
Come, Hippolyta.
[Exeunt THESEUS, HIPPOLYTA, EGEUS, and train.]
DEMETRIUS
187
These things seem small and undistinguishable,
HERMIA
188. parted: out of focus.
188
Methinks I see these things with parted eye,
189
When every thing seems double.
HELENA
190
So methinks:
191-192. like a jewel, / Mine own, and not mine own: like some precious thing accidently found, so mine on the principle of "finders keepers," but once someone else's.
191
And I have found Demetrius like a jewel,
192
Mine own, and not mine own.
DEMETRIUS
192
Are you sure
193
That we are awake? It seems to me
194
That yet we sleep, we dream. Do not you think
195
The duke was here, and bid us follow him?
HERMIA
196
Yea; and my father.
HELENA
196
And Hippolyta.
LYSANDER
197
And he did bid us follow to the temple.
DEMETRIUS
198
Why, then, we are awake: let's follow him
199
And by the way let us recount our dreams.
[Exeunt.]
BOTTOM [Awaking.]
200
When my cue comes, call
201
me, and I will answer: my next is, "Most fair Pyramus."
202. Heigh-ho: A yawn.
202
Heigh-ho! Peter Quince! Flute, the bellows-mender!
203. God's: God save.
203
Snout, the tinker! Starveling! God's my life,
204
stol'n hence, and left me asleep! I have had a most
205
rare vision. I have had a dream, past the wit of
206
man to say what dream it was: man is but an ass,
207. go about: attempt.
207
if he go about to expound this dream. Methought
208
I wasthere is no man can tell what. Methought I
209. patch'd: wearing motley, i.e., a dress of various colors. 210. offer: venture.
209
was,and methought I had,but man is but a patch'd
210
fool, if he will offer to say what methought I
211-214. The eye . . . was: A parody of I Corinthians 2:9; "The eye hath not seen, and the ear hath not heard, neither have entered into the heart of man . . . " (Bishops').
211
had. The eye of man hath not heard, the ear of man
212
hath not seen, man's hand is not able to taste, his
213
tongue to conceive, nor his heart to report, what
214
my dream was. I will get Peter Quince to write a
215. ballet: ballad.
215
ballet of this dream: it shall be called Bottom's
216. hath no bottom: i.e., is all tangled up because it lacks a core (bottom).
216
Dream, because it hath no bottom; and I will
217
sing it in the latter end of a play, before the Duke.
218. gracious: attractive, elegant.
218
Peradventure, to make it the more gracious, I shall
219. her: i.e., Thisbe's.
219
sing it at her death.
[Exit.]