From A Midsummer Night's Dream. Ed. K. Deighton. London: Macmillan & Co.
Stage Direction. Theseus, the great legendary hero of
Attica, was the son of Egeus, king of Athens. Among his
many exploits was the war he waged against the Amazons,
whose queen, Antiope, he, according to one tradition, carried off.
According to another, the Amazons, led by Hippolyte, in their
turn invaded Attica to avenge the capture of Antiope, when
Theseus, having vanquished them, married Hippolyte.
2. apace, swiftly; "at an earlier period the word was written
as two words, a pas ... It is also to be remarked that the phrase
has widely changed its meaning. In Chaucer ... it means 'a foot-pace,' and was originally used of horses when proceeding slowly,
or at a walk. The phrase is compounded of the English indefinite article, a, and the M. E. pas, modern E. pace, a word of
French origin" (Skeat, Ety. Dict.).
3. methinks, it seems to me; me, the dative, and the A. S.
thyncan, to seem, which is quite distinct from the A. S. thencan,
to think; slow, used adverbially.
4. lingers my desires, delays the realization of my desires; for
lingers, used transitively, cp. R. II. ii. 2. 72, "Who gently
would dissolve the bands of life, Which fond hope lingers in extremity."
5, 6. Like ... revenue. The picture here is of a widow who for
long years keeps the heir out of possession of that portion of his
father's property to a life interest in which she is entitled as her
dower, and which will be his at her death; dowager is a coined
word from another coined word, dowage, endowment, ultimately
from the Lat. dotare, to endow, and is equally appropriate to
mother and step-mother, though step-dame is here used with
special reference to the proverbial harshness of step-mothers to
step-children; step-, in composition, is the A. S. steop, meaning "'orphaned,' or 'deprived of its parent'; so that it was
first used in the compounds, stepchild, stepbairn, stepson, stepdaughter, and afterwards extended, naturally enough, so as to
form the compounds stepfather, stepmother, to denote the father
or mother of the child who had lost one of its first parents" (Skeat, Ety. Dict.). For withering out, Steevens compares
Chapman's translation of Homer, bk. iv., "there the goodly
plant lies withering out his grace."
7. steep themselves in night, plunge themselves in the gloom
of night; with an allusion to the sun dipping below the horizon
and so bringing on the night. For steep, in this figurative sense,
cp. Oth, iv. 2. 50, "Steep'd me in poverty to the very lips";
A. C. ii. 7. 113, "Till that the conquering wine hath steep'd our
sense In soft and delicate Lethe."
8. Four nights ... time; four nights will quickly pass away in
dreams.
10. New-bent, Rowe's correction of 'Now-bent.'
11. solemnities, marriage festivities; as below, iv. 1. 131, 182.
12. merriments, displays of mirth; diversions.
13. pert, lively, brisk; now used only in a disagreeable sense, =
forward, saucy. According to Skeat, the M. E. pert has two
meanings and two sources. In some instances it is certainly a
corruption of apert, F. apert, open, and pertly means 'openly,'
evidently; in others it is from Welsh pert, smart, spruce, as here.
14. Turn ... funerals, turn melancholy out of doors, and let it
go as an accompaniment to funerals.
15. The pale ... pomp, such a pale-faced attendant is not a
fitting one for the festivity of our marriage; companion, as frequently in Shakespeare, used in a contemptuous sense.
16, 17. See note on stage direction above.
18. in another key, to another tune; in a very different way;
cp. T. C. i. 3. 53, "An accent tuned in the self-same key."
19. triumph, stately pageant; public festivity; cp. R. II. v.
2. 66, "For gay apparel for the triumph day."
20. duke, from Lat. dux, leader, chief, is in Elizabethan
literature a title frequently given to Grecian chiefs, and Chaucer
speaks of 'Duke Theseus.'
21. Egeus, a trisyllable, as throughout the play: what's...thee,
what is it you have to tell us about yourself?
22. vexation, trouble; the word was formerly used in a more
forcible sense than it now has.
27. This hath is the reading of the later folios, and it seems
likely that in the reading of the quartos and first folio, 'This
man hath,' 'man' was repeated from 1.25: for bewitch'd, Theobald, retaining 'man,' reads 'witch'd': the bosom, the heart
within the bosom.
28. given her rhymes, addressed her in verse; as though the
rhymes were a love-potion.
29. interchanged love-tokens, given to her and received from
her presents in pledge of love.
31. feigning voice, voice which pretended to be deeply moved
by love.
32. stolen ... fantasy, fraudulently made yourself master of the
impression upon her fancy, i.e. by impressing his own image upon
it. The figure is that of surreptitiously obtaining the impression
of a seal to be used in giving validity to a document of possession;
fantasy, the older form of 'fancy,' i.e. love, or rather an inclination to love.
33. gawds, ornaments, toys; literally things which please the
fancy, from Lat. gaudium, gladness, joy; cp. below, iv. 1. 164,
and T. C. iii. 3. 176, "That all with one consent praise new-born gauds": conceits, "presents fancifully devised" (Schmidt).
34. Knacks, Skeat gives as the senses of the word (1) a snap,
crack, (2) a snap with the finger or nail, (3) a jester's trick, piece
of dexterity, (4) a joke, trifle, toy; the two latter words being
the sense here; cp. W. T. iv. 4. 360, "To load my she with
knacks"; T. S. iv. 3. 67, "A knack, a toy, a trick, a baby's
cap." The more modem form is the reduplicated 'knick-knacks'
= trifles, toys, which is found in Beaumont and Fletcher's Loyal
Subject, ii. 1. 126, in the sense of deception, "But if ye use these
knick-knacks."
34, 5. messengers ... youth, which are most persuasive envoys
to those like my daughter whose tender age is easily impressed.
38. stubborn harshness, sullen obstinacy against my will;
harshness is more generally used of the rough treatment of a
superior, as in Temp. iii. 1. 9, "O, she is Ten times more gentle
than her father's crabbed. And he's composed of harshness."
39. Be it so, if it should prove that.
41. the ancient ... Athens, the time-honoured custom which the
citizens of Athens enjoy.
42. As she ... her, that, as she belongs to me, I may do as I
please with her.
43-5. Which shall ... case, and this disposal of her shall be
either marriage with this gentleman, or death in accordance with
that law which is expressly applicable to a case of such disobedience. Warburton points out that by a law of Solon's,
which Shakespeare may have assumed to be in force even in
Theseus' day, parents in Athens had absolute power of life and
death over their children; but he also, and more probably,
suggests that Shakespeare perhaps neither thought nor knew
anything of the matter; Immediately, with direct reference to.
Steevens points out that the line "has an undoubted smack
of legal commonplace."
46. be advised, listen to reason; suffer yourself to be prevailed
upon by advice; cp. Oth, i. 2. 65, "General, be advised; He
comes to bad intent"; but the phrase is frequent in Shakespeare.
48. One that ... beauties, one to whom you owe your personal
beauty; so 'composition' is used for 'frame,' 'constitution,' K.
J. i. 1. 88, "In the large composition of this man."
50, 1. and within ... it, and within whose power it lies to leave
the figure (of your beauty) as it is, or to destroy it; i.e. who has
power of life and death over you. For the ellipsis of 'it is,' see
Abb. § 403.
54, 5. But in ... worthier, but in this particular respect, since he
lacks your father's approval, he must be held to be less worthy
than Lysander who has that approval. For kind, cp. M. A. ii.
1. 70, "if the prince do solicit you in that kind, you know your
answer"; for voice = approval, suffrage, cp. R. III. iii. 4. 20,
"And in the duke's behalf I'll give my voice"; J. C. iii. 1. 177,
"Your voice shall be as strong as any man's In the disposing of
new dignities."
56. look'd but with my eyes, saw matters only as I see them.
57. with his judgment, as his discernment shows them.
59. by what ... bold, what inward strength emboldens me.
60. Nor how ... modesty, nor how far it may beseem me as a
modest maiden; for concern, = afifect, cp. below, i. 1. 126, "Of
something nearly that concerns yourselves."
61. In such a presence, in the presence of one so exalted as my
sovereign: to plead my thoughts, to give expression to my
thoughts in pleading my cause before you; for plead, with a
cognate accusative, cp. i. H. VI. ii. 4. 29, "If he suppose that
I have pleaded truth."
63. may befall, can possibly befall; for this, the original, sense
of may, see Abb. § 307.
63, 4. in this case ... Demetrius, in case I should refuse, etc.
65. the death, the well-known sentence of death passed upon
disobedience; for the, expressing notoriety, see Abb. § 92.
68. Know of your youth, interrogate the warm feelings of youth
and find out: your blood, the impulses of nature.
69. Whether, here, as frequently in Shakespeare, metrically a
monosyllable.
70. the livery of a nun, not merely the dress worn by a nun,
but all that is involved in the wearing of that dress; cp. R. J. ii. 2. 8, "Her vestal livery is but sick and green"; Per. ii. 5. 10,
"One twelve moons more she'll wear Diana's livery." Of course
the mention of nuns in Theseus' time is an anachronism.
71. For aye, forever; cloister, more commonly used for the
partially enclosed walk beneath the upper storey of monasteries,
convents, colleges, etc., but also for the buildings themselves, or
any place of religious seclusion; from Lat. claustrum, an enclosure: mew'd, confined; a 'mew,' from which the verb comes,
was originally a cage for hawks, etc. Cp. R. III. i. 1. 132,
"More pity that the eagle should be mew'd, While kites and
buzzards prey at liberty."
72. To live a barren sister, to spend your days as one of the
sisterhood (of nuns) without any children of your own to gladden
your life.
73. Chanting ... moon, with languid monotony offering up
hymns of praise to that chaste-cold divinity, the moon. The
faint hymns are in contrast with the fervid devotion offered to
divinities from whom some warm return of favour might be
expected; the moon (personified as Diana, the goddess of
chastity) making no return of love to her devotees. For fruitless in this sense, and for an illustration of the passage generally,
cp. V. A. 751-5, "Therefore, despite of fruitless chastity, Love-lacking vestals and self-loving nuns, That on the earth would
breed a scarcity And barren dearth of daughters and of sons, Be
prodigal."
74. that master ... blood, who attain such a mastery over their
natural inclinations.
75. To undergo ... pilgrimage, as to submit themselves to a
pilgrimage through life uncheered by the joys of love. For
undergo, cp. W. T. iv. 4. 554, "if you will not change your
purpose But undergo this flight"; for pilgrimage, as applied to
the weary journey through life, cp. R. II. ii. 1. 154, "His time
is spent, our pilgrimage must be"; Genesis, xlvii. 9, "The days
of the years of my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years";
Hebrews xi. 13, "strangers and pilgrims on the earth."
76-8. But earthlier ... blessedness, but as regards earthly happiness, better is the lot of the rose whose sweetness is distilled
from it than that of the rose which, unplucked, lives a lonely
existence, and at length withers away upon its bush; i.e. putting
aside the figure, happier, as far as earthly joys are concerned, is
the maiden who marries than she who dies unwedded. For
earthlier happy Capell would read 'earthly happier,' thus
sacrificing the far more poetic reading of the text which emphasizes the earthly character of the happiness to be enjoyed;
virgin belongs to rose rather than to thorn; Malone compares Sonn.
V, 13, "Flowers distilled, though they with winter meet, Leese but
their show; their substance still lives sweet"; for thorn, = a
tree or shrub armed with thorns, cp. i. H, IV, i. 3. 176, "To
put down Richard, that sweet lovely rose, And plant this thorn,
this canker, Bolingbroke."
80. my virgin patent, the privilege of remaining unmarried,
which belongs to me.
81, 2. Unto ... sovereignty, to the sway of him to whose unpalatable yoke my soul utterly refuses submission; for lordship,
as applied to a husband, cp. A, W. v. 3. 156, "I wonder, sir,
sith wives are monsters to you. And that you fly them as you
swear them lordship. Yet you desire to marry: "My soul, emphatic; I from the bottom of my soul. For the ellipsis of 'to'
before whose, see Abb. § 201.
83. Take ... pause, take time to reflect on the matter.
84, 5. The sealing-day ... fellowship, the day on which Hippolyta and I are to ratify by marriage a bond of everlasting partnership in love; cp. T. N, v. 1. 164, "And all the ceremony of this
compact, Seal'd in my function, by my testimony."
87. For disobedience, as a punishment for disobedience.
88. as he would, as he (sc. your father) desires that it should
be.
89. to protest, to make solemn profession of; cp. T, G. iv. 2.
7, "When I protest true loyalty to her."
90. austerity ... life, a hendiadys for 'the austerity of a life of
singleness,' such as was led by those who devoted themselves to
religious seclusion.
92. Thy crazed ... right, the utterly invalid title you set up to
the right which is assuredly mine; the original sense of 'craze'
is 'break,' 'weaken.'
95. he hath my love, I have given him my affection.
96. my love, the affection I bear to him: render, give; as
often in Shakespeare without any idea of giving in return, or
giving back.
97. my right of her, the right in her which as a parent I possess.
98. estate unto, devolve upon, as an estate is devolved; elsewhere Shakespeare uses 'estate on,' or 'upon,' as in Temp. iv.
I. 85, "And some donation freely to estate On the blest lovers";
A. Y. L. V. 2. 13, "all the revenue that was old Sir Rowland's
will I estate upon you."
99. as well derived, of as noble descent; as frequently in
Shakespeare, e.g. J. C ii. 1. 322, "Brave son, derived from
honourable loins."
100. As well possess'd, as richly endowed in point of wealth.
101, 2. My fortunes ... Demetrius, in that which I owe to
fortune, I am in all respects the equal, if not the superior, of
Demetrius; his love is the gift of Nature, his prosperity of
Fortune.
103. which is ... be, a matter of greater importance than all
these other advantages which I boast; for which used in this
parenthetical way, see Abb. § 271.
104. of, by; see Abb. § 171.
105. prosecute my right, follow up the right I have to Hermia.
106. avouch it to his head, boldly assert it to him face to face;
avouch, formed from a (Lat. ad, to,) and vouch, to warrant,
affirm strongly.
108. her soul, her deepest love; soul, emphatic, as in 1. 82.
109. dotes in idolatry, worships him with foolishly passionate
love; to 'dote' is to betray foolishness in whatever way; so we
speak of a person being in his dotage when (especially from age)
he has lost the power of reasoning.
110. spotted, polluted by perjury; cp. R. II. iii. 2. 134,
"Terrible hell make war Upon their spotted souls for this
offence."
111. so much as you tell me, i.e. I have heard of his inconstancy.
112. thought, intended: spoke, for the curtailed form of the
participle, see Abb. § 353.
113. over-full of, too much occupied: self-affairs, personal
affairs; for similar compounds of 'self,' cp. T. C. ii. 3. 182, "self-breath"; Cymb. iii. 4. 149, "self-danger."
114. did lose it, forgot all about it; it completely passed out
of my mind.
116. some private schooling, some words of reprimand to be
said in private; cp. i. H. IV. iii. 1. 190, "Well, I am school'd."
117. For you, as regards you; look ... yourself, take care to
discipline yourself, prepare yourself; cp. M. V. iv. 1. 264, "I
am arm'd and well prepared."
118. To fit ... will, to accommodate your fanciful desires to
your father's determination in the matter.
119. yields you up, necessarily gives you up.
120. Which, and this law: extenuate, weaken the force of; in
Oth. V. 2. 342, "nothing extenuate, Nor set down aught in
malice," the word means to 'palliate'; Bacon, in his Colours
of Good and Evil, 7, uses it as here for to 'weaken'; Adv.
Learn, i. 2. 3, and Letter of Advice to Essex, as = to 'depreciate.'
122. what cheer, my love? how is it with you? how do you
look upon things? cheer, look, countenance; from O. F. chere,
chiere the face, look; so we say, 'he put a good face upon the
matter.'
123. go along, come with us; see Abb. § 80; along, from "A.
S. prefix and-, ... over against, close to, and A. S. adjective lang,
long. The sense is over against in length" (Skeat, Ety. Dict.).
124. I must employ you, I have employment for you.
125. Against, in preparation for; to be ready by the time of;
cp. below, iii. 2. 99, "I'll charm his eyes against she do appear":
nuptial, frequently used by Shakespeare in the singular, as conversely he uses 'funerals' where we should say 'funeral.'
126. nearly ... yourselves, that closely concerns yourselves;
for similar transpositions of the adverb, see Abb. § 421.
127. With duty and desire, with dutiful eagerness.
129. How chance ... fast? We should now say either 'How
does it chance that the roses there do fade,' etc., or, 'How do the
roses there chance to fade,' etc. Cp. below, v. 1. 300, "How
chance Moonshine is gone before Thisbe comes back and finds her
lover?", and see Abb. § 37.
130. Belike, probably; literally by like, i.e. likelihood.
131. Beteem, allow, permit; literally make or consider as
fitting. Skeat (Ety. Dict. 8. v. 'teem') shows that 'teem' is
related to the A. S. suffix -teme, tyme, with the notion of 'fitting '
or 'suitable.' "In Golding's translation of Ovid's Metamorphoses, A.D. 1587, we have 'could he not beteeme' = he did not
think fit, would not deign; the Latin text has dignatus, Metam.
X. 157. Spenser uses it still more loosely: 'So woulde I...
Beteeme you to this sword' = permit, grant, allow you the use of
this sword; F. Q. ii. 8. 19." ... Probably, as the Cl. Pr. Edd.
point out, both here and in Haml. i. 2. 141, "so loving to my
mother That he might not beteem the winds of heaven Visit her
face too roughly," Shakespeare had in his mind a reference to the
word teem in the sense of 'empty,' 'pour out,' from Icel. tama,
to empty: the tempest of my eyes, the torrent of tears which is
ready to pour from my eyes.
132. Ay me! alas for me! for aught ... read, for anything to
the contrary that I have ever met with in my reading; so far as
my reading goes.
133. by, in the way of; by mens of.
134-40. The course ... eyes. Malone thinks that Milton imitated this passage in P. L. x. 896-906.
135. it was ... blood, there was inequality in the matter of
birth.
136. cross! ... low! O, what a trial that one of higher rank should be the slave of love to one beneath him! cross, cp.
R. II. iv. 1. 241, "yet you Pilates Have here delivered me to
my sour cross" where, as here, there is an allusion to the figurative phrase of 'bearing one's cross,' i.e. trials, which originated
in Christ's being made literally to bear to the place of execution
the cross on which He was crucified. So, Galatians, v. 24, "And
they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections
and lusts." Malone compares V. A. 1136, "Sorrow on love
hereafter shall attend ... Ne'er settled equally, but high or low,"
though he misquotes the end of the latter line.
137. Or else ... years, — or else there was disparity of age; the
pair linked together were not suitable to each other in point of
years; to 'graft,' the only form now in use, is corrupt, owing to
a confusion with 'graffed,' past participle of 'graff.' Shakespeare uses the correct form, as here, R. III. iii. 7. 127, A. Y. L.
iii. 2. 124, and also the corrupt form, Macb. iv. 3. 51.
138. spite! ... young. O sad misfortune that age and youth
should be bound by contract to another! Cp. The Passionate
Pilgrim, xii. 157, etc., "Crabbed age and youth cannot live
together," etc.
139. Or else ... friends,— or else it depended upon, was due to,
the choice made by friends; the union had been a matter of
negotiation between the friends, or relatives, not a matter of
love between the principal parties.
140. hell! ... eyes. O misery that choice in a matter of love
should be made by others than those immediately concerned!
to choose love is elliptical for 'to make choice of the object of
love.'
141. sympathy, correspondency, equality, in birth, years, etc.;
cp. R. II. iv. 1. 33, "If that thy valour stand on sympathy,"
i.e. if you are unwilling to meet in combat one who is not your
equal in rank; Oth. ii. 1. 232, "sympathy in years, manners,
and beauties."
142. it, sc. love.
143. momentany, from Lat. momentaneus, as the more modern
form 'momentary' is from the Lat. momentarius.
144. Swift as a shadow, sc. in passing away.
145. Collied, darkened; literally covered with coal-smuts, as
'collier' is from the M. E. col, coal, with the suffix -er, and the
insertion of i for convenience in pronunciation.
146. in a spleen, in a fit of passion; as though the lightning
were endowed with the same feelings as a man; cp. K. J. ii. 1.
448, "With swifter spleen than powder (i.e. gunpowder) can
enforce:" unfolds, i.e. from the mantle of darkness in which
they were enveloped.
147, 8. And ere ... up, and before a man can so much as say
'Behold!' it is again swallowed up by darkness; cp. R. J. ii. 2.
119, 20, "like the lightning, which doth cease to be, Ere one
can say 'It lightens.'"
149. confusion, ruin; as frequently in Shakespeare.
150. ever, constantly: cross'd, thwarted by circumstances.
151. It stands ... destiny, it (sc. that they should be thwarted)
is a decree firmly established by destiny; edict, with the accent
on the former syllable, as often in Shakespeare.
152. teach ... patience, teach ourselves, thus tried, to endure
with calmness.
154. As due to love, as much a part of, as much belonging to,
love.
155. poor fancy's followers, the constant attendants on poor
love.
156. A good persuasion, a good belief, doctrine, to hold; cp.
Cymb. i. 4. 125, "You are a great deal abused in too bold a persuasion"; M. M. iv. 1. 47, "whose persuasion I come about
my brother."
157. a widow aunt, an aunt who is a widow; widow, used as
an adjective.
157, 8. a dowager ... revenue, one endowed with a rich
jointure; see note on 1. 5.
159. remote, removed, distant; cp. L, L. L. v. 2. 806, "some
forlorn and naked hermitage Remote from all the pleasures of
the world."
160. respects, regards; cp. i. H, IV, v; 4. 20, "I do respect
thee as my soul."
161. may, shall be able; on the original sense of may, see
Abb. § 307.
162. sharp, cruel.
163. If ... then, therefore if.
164. forth, out from; on forth, used as a proposition, see Abb.
§ 55.
165. without, outside.
170. By his ... head. Cupid is by Ovid (Metam. i. 469-71)
spoken of as armed with two arrows, one of gold, the other of
lead; the former exciting, the latter repelling, love; cp. T. N.
i. 1. 35, "How will she love, when the rich golden shaft Hath
kill'd the flock of all affections else That live in her."
171. simplicity, innocence: Venus' doves, or pigeons, are mentioned again in M. V. ii. 6. 5; and among other birds supposed
to draw her chariot were sparrows, swans, and swallows.
172. knitteth, binds together; prospers, for this transitive use
of the verb, cp. Lear, iii. 2. 92, "Kind gods, forgive me that,
and prosper him."
173. 4. the Carthage queen, Dido, who burned with love for
Aeneas, the false Troyan; for the noun put for the adjective, cp.
"Corioli walls," Cor, i. 1. 8; "Philippi fields," J. C. v. 5. 19;
"the Cyprus wars," Oth. i. 1. 151. "Steevens pointed out the
anachronism of making Dido and Aeneas earlier in point of time
than Theseus. But Shakespeare's Hermia lived in the latter part
of the sixteenth century and was contemporary with Nick Bottom
the weaver" (Wright).
174. under sail was seen, was seen by her sailing away from her
shores. The story of Dido falling in love with AEneas is told in
Vergil's AEneid Bk. i.; at his departure for Latium Dido
destroyed herself.
176. In number more, i.e, which are more in number; for the
curtailed participles broke and spoke, see Abb. § 343.
177. same place, very place: hast appointed me, have appointed for me.
180. God ... Helena! may heaven favour Helena wherever she
is going! The radical sense of 'speed' is 'success.'
181. that fair, that title of 'fair' which you give me.
182. your fair, your beauty; the substantival use of the word
is frequent in Shakespeare: O happy fair! beauty fortunate in
attracting the love of Demetrius!
183. lode-stars, lode-star is literally "'way-star,' i.e. the star
that shows the way ... Compounded of lode a way, and star"
(Skeat, Ety. Dict.): your tongue's sweet air, the sweet sound
of your voice.
184. tuneable, melodious; cp. iv. 1. 121, "A cry more tuneable"; for the omission of the article before lark, see Abb. § 83.
185. When wheat ... appear, i.e. in early summer.
186. favour, looks, appearance; "'In beauty,' says Bacon in
his 43rd Essay, 'that of favour is more than that of colour; and
that of decent and gracious motion more than that of favour.'
The word is now lost to us in that sense; but we still use
favoured with well, ill, and perhaps other qualifying terms, for
featured or looking; as in Genesis xli. 4: — 'The ill-favoured and
lean-flesh'd kine did eat up the seven well-favoured and fat
kine'" (Craik, English of Shakespeare § 54).
188. My ear should catch your voice. Lettsom points out the
inconsistency here by which Helena is made to wish her ear may resemble the voice of Hermia; and would read 'My hair should
catch your hair,' since catch in all three clauses is evidently
used in the technical sense of contracting some affection from
another person. If any change were allowable, I should be inclined to read, 'My fair should catch your fair,' i.e. the personal
beauty you have ascribed to me should catch your personal
beauty; my eye should catch the fascination of your eye; my
tongue, etc., fair being the general term including the particulars,
eye and tongue. Voice seems clearly wrong, since the next line
deals with that particular; and with my conjecture we have in
these two lines a complete correspondency with 11. 182, 3. For
catch, used in a good sense, cp. ii. H. IV. v. 1. 85, "'It is certain
that either wise hearing or ignorant carriage is caught, as men
take diseases, one of another." Abbott (§ 237) points out that
mine is almost always found before 'eye,' 'ear,' etc., where no
emphasis is intended. But where there is an antithesis, as here,
we have my, thy.
190. bated, excepted, left out; cp. Temp. ii. 1. 100, "Bate, I
beseech you, widow Dido"; Haml. v. 2. 23, "no leisure bated."
191. translated, transformed; cp. below, iii. 1. 109, "Bless
thee, Bottom! bless thee! thou art translated"; Haml. iii. 1.
113, "the power of beauty will sooner transform honesty from
what it is ... than the force of honesty can translate beauty into
his likeness."
193. sway the motion ... heart, make his heart move in whatever direction you please.
194. still, nevertheless; in spite of my frowning.
195-7. that ... move! Would that my warmest welcome
and my most earnest prayers could effect that which is the prompt
result of your disdain and maledictions!
200. is no fault of mine, is not a thing for which I am to be
blamed, since I do everything in my power to cure him of it.
201. None, ... beauty, I grant that all you can be blamed for is
your beauty.
203. will fly, am determined to quit with all speed.
206, 7. O, then ... hell! How powerful must be the graces of
my beloved one, seeing that they have made Athens a place of
torture to me; i.e. since so long as she remained in it she could
not marry Lysander. As Johnson points out, Hermia is endeavouring to comfort Helena by showing that personal beauty,
such as Helena covets, does not necessarily bring happiness with
it. Johnson, however, seems to take my love as = the love which I feel.
209. Phoebe, the moon, sister of Phoebus, the sun.
210. in the watery glass, mirrored in the water.
211. liquid pearl, dew-drops; pearl, used generically, as in
H. V, iv. 1. 279, "The intertissued robe of gold and pearl";
Macb, V. 8. 56, "I see thee compass'd with thy Kingdom's pearl."
212. doth still conceal, is ever wont to conceal.
213. devised, planned.
215. faint primrose-beds, beds of pale primroses, as they are
called in W. T. iv. 4. 122, "pale primroses That die unmarried";
Cymb. iv. 2. 221, "The flower that's like thy face, pale primrose."
Delius regards the epithet here as applying to those who lie upon
the primroses, beds for those who were faint, weary; and
Schmidt and Wright follow him. But the picture of Helena and
Hermia lying out in the meadow is one that does not at all
necessarily infer weariness, and the interpretation seems a very
forced one.
216. Emptying ... sweet, unreservedly exchanging confidence
with each other; the words counsel sweet are from Psalms, lv. 15,
"We took sweet counsel together." Cp. below, iii. 2. 198, "In
all the counsel that we two have shared."
217. shall meet, have determined to meet.
219. stranger companies, the society of strangers; stranger,
the substantive used as an adjective; cp. K. J. v, 1. 11. "Swearing allegiance and the love of soul To stranger blood"; for
companies, cp. Cymb, iv. 2. 69, "search What companies are
near."
222. Keep word, keep your promise of meeting me; apostrophizing Lysander in his absence; we still use the phrase 'keep
my, your, his, etc. word,' in this sense.
223. From lovers' food, i.e. the sight of one another: till ... midnight, till the dead of tomorrow's night; cp. Haml. i. 2. 198,
"In the dead vast and middle of the night"; ii. H. VI. i. 4. 19,
"Deep night, dark night, the silent of the night." Blackstone
points out that tomorrow night would be within three nights of
the new moon, when there would be no moonshine at all.
225. dote, see note on 1. 109; and for the subjunctive used
optatively. Abb. § 365.
226. other some, certain others; cp. M. M. iii 2. 94, "Some
say he is with the Emperor of Russia; other some, he is in Rome."
227. Through, throughout.
228. But what of that? but that is of no avail; more commonly
in the sense of 'that does not matter,' 'is of no consequence.'
229. will not know, obstinately refuses to know.
231. So I, sc. err: admiring of, on of, following a verbal noun,
see Abb. § 178.
232. holding no quantity, "bearing no proportion to what they
are estimated at by love" (Schmidt) ; cp. Haml. iii. 2. 177, "For
women's fear and love holds quantity."
233. Love ... dignity, love's alchemy can transmute into that
which is shapely and dignified; cp. Sonn. cxiv. 3-6, "And
whether shall I say ... that your love taught it this alchemy, To
make of monsters and things indigest Such cherubins as your
sweet self resemble."
236. Nor hath ... taste, nor has Love's mind the smallest flavour
of the critical faculty; cp. T. C. v. 2. 127, "Why, my negation
hath no taste of madness.
237. Wings ... haste, in painting, statuary, etc., Cupid is represented with wings and without sight; figure, symbolize.
238. therefore, for this reason that in making his choice as to
whom he should wound with his arrows, he is often led astray.
240. in game, in sport; for mere fun.
242. eyne, i.e. eyen, the archaic plural; sometimes, as here,
for the sake of the rhyme, sometimes without any such constraint.
243. hail'd down, uttered with the rapidity and frequency of
falling hail; cp. M, W. v. 5. 21-3, "let it thunder to the tune of
Green Sleeves, hail kissing-comfits and snow eringoes"; Macb. i.
3. 97, "As thick as hail came post with post."
244. 5. And when ... melt, and when the love kindled by the
sight of Hermia began to glow in his heart, his love for me melted
away; for so, as the correlative of when, see Abb. § 66.
246. go tell, for the omission of 'to' before tell, see Abb. § 349.
248. this intelligence, this information which I shall communicate to him.
249. If I ... expense, if I so much as obtain his thanks (which
is doubtful), I shall have paid a high price for them (sc. in the
pain it will cost me to give him the opportunity of meeting
Hermia). Steevens explains, "It will cost him much (be a severe
constraint on his feelings) to make even so slight a return for my
communication," — an explanation which the next line seems to
disprove.
250, 1. But herein ... again, but in this manner I mean to
requite the pain I shall thus give myself, to wit, by enjoying the
sight of him on the way there and back.
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How to cite the explanatory notes:
Shakespeare, William. A Midsummer Night's Dream. Ed. K. Deighton. London: Macmillan, 1891. Shakespeare Online. 20 Feb. 2010. (date when you accessed the information) < http://www.shakespeare-online.com/plays/mids_1_1.html >.
