Shakespeare's Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare (best book series to read txt) π
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236. Compare. See on ii. 5. 43 above.
ACT IV Scene I.β3. And I am nothing slow to slack his haste. Paris here seems to say the opposite of what he evidently means, and various attempts have been made to explain away the inconsistency. It appears to be one of the peculiar cases of "double negative" discussed by Schmidt in his Appendix, p. 1420, though he does not give it there. "The idea of negation was so strong in the poet's mind that he expressed it in more than one place, unmindful of his canon that 'your four negatives make your two affirmatives.'" Cf. Lear, ii. 4. 142:β
that is, you are more inclined to depreciate her than she to scant her duty.
5. Uneven. Indirect. Cf. the use of even in Ham. ii. 2. 298: "be even and direct with me," etc. Sometimes the word is = perplexing, embarrassing; as in 1 Hen. IV. i. 1. 50: "uneven and unwelcome news," etc.
11. Marriage. A trisyllable here; as in M. of V. ii. 9. 13, etc. So also in the quotation from Brooke in note on iii. 5. 212 above.
13. Alone. When alone; opposed to society below.
16. Slow'd. The only instance of the verb in S.
18-36. This part of the scene evidently came from the first draft of the play.
20. That may be must be. That may be of yours must be.
29. Abus'd. Marred, disfigured.
31. Spite. Cf. i. 5. 64 above.
38. Evening mass. Ritson and others say that Juliet means vespers, as there is no such thing as evening mass; and Staunton expresses surprise that S. has fallen into this error, since he elsewhere shows a familiarity with the usages of the Roman Catholic Church. It is the critics who are in error, not S. Walafrid Strabo (De Rebus Eccles. xxiii.) says that, while the time for mass is regularly before noon, it is sometimes celebrated in the evening ("aliquando ad vesperam"). Amalarius, Bishop of Trèves (De Eccles. Off. iv. 40), specifies Lent as the season for this hour. The Generales Rubricæ allow this at other times in the year. In Winkles's French Cathedrals, we are told that, on the occasion of the marriage of Henrietta of France, daughter of Henry IV., with the Duke of Chevreuse, as proxy for Charles I. of England, celebrated in Notre Dame at Paris, May 11, 1625, "mass was celebrated in the evening." See Notes and Queries for April 29 and June 3, 1876; also M'Clintock and Strong's Biblical Cyclopædia, under Mass.
40. We must entreat, etc. We must beg you to leave us to ourselves. Cf. Hen. VIII. i. 4. 71:β
41. God shield. God forbid. Cf. A.W. i. 3. 74: "God shield you mean it not." So "Heaven shield," in M. for M. iii. 1. 141, etc. Devotion is here a quadrisyllable.
45. Past cure, etc. Cf. L. L. L. v. 2. 28: "past cure is still past care."
48. Prorogue. See on ii. 2. 78 above.
54. This knife. It was the custom of the time in Italy as in Spain for ladies to wear daggers at their girdles.
57. The label. The seal appended by a slip to a deed, according to the custom of the day. In Rich. II. v. 2. 56, the Duke of York discovers, by the depending seal, a covenant which his son has made with the conspirators. In Cymb. v. 5. 430, label is used for the deed itself.
62. Extremes. Extremities, sufferings. Cf. R. of L. 969:β
The meaning of the passage is, "This knife shall decide the struggle between me and my distresses" (Johnson).
64. Commission. Warrant, authority. Cf. A.W. ii. 3. 279: "you are more saucy with lords and honourable personages than the commission of your birth and virtue gives you heraldry."
66. Be not so long to speak. So slow to speak. Clarke remarks here: "The constraint, with sparing speech, visible in Juliet when with her parents, as contrasted with her free outpouring flow of words when she is with her lover, her father confessor, or her nurseβwhen, in short, she is her natural self and at perfect easeβis true to characteristic delineation. The young girl, the very young girl, the girl brought up as Juliet has been reared, the youthful Southern maiden, lives and breathes in every line by which S. has set her before us."
78. Yonder. Ulrici "cannot perceive why Juliet must designate a particular, actual tower, since all that follows is purely imaginary;" but to me the reference to a tower in sight seems both forcible and natural, and the transition to imaginary ordeals is equally natural.
83. Reeky. Reeking with foul vapours, or simply = foul, as if soiled with smoke or reek. Cf. reechy (another form of the same word) in Much Ado, iii. 3. 143, Ham. iii. 4. 184, etc.
93. Take thou this vial, etc. Cf. Brooke's poem:β
97. Surcease. Cf. R. of L. 1766: "If they surcease to be that should survive;" and Cor. iii. 2. 121: "Lest I surcease to honour mine own truth." For the noun, see Macb. i. 7. 74.
100. Paly. Cf. Hen. V. iv. chor. 8: "paly flames;" and 2 Hen. VI. iii. 2. 141: "his paly lips."
105. Two and forty hours. It is difficult to make this period agree with the time of the events that follow. Maginn would read "two and fifty hours;" and "two and thirty" has been suggested, which is more in accordance with the dates given in the play. In iv. 1. 90 the Friar says to Juliet:β
This agrees with the preceding dates. The conversation in iii. 4 is late on Monday evening (cf. lines 5 and 18), and Lady Capulet's talk with Juliet about marrying Paris (iii. 5. 67 fol.) is early the next (Tuesday) morning. The visit to the Friar is evidently on the same day; and the next scene (iv. 2) is in the evening of that day. Juliet comes home and tells her father that she has been to the Friar's, and is ready to marry Paris. The old man at once decides to have the wedding "to-morrow morning" (that is, Wednesday) instead of Thursday. Lady Capulet objects, but finally yields to her husband's persistency; and so Juliet goes to her chamber, and drinks the potion on Tuesday evening, or twenty-four hours earlier than the Friar had directed. He of course is notified of the change in the time for the wedding, as he is to perform the ceremony, and will understand that Juliet has anticipated the time of taking the potion, and that she will wake on Thursday morning instead of Friday. If so, instead of extending the "two and forty hours," as Maginn does, we need rather to shorten the interval. We may suppose the time of v. 3 to be as early as three o'clock in the morning. It is summer, and before daylight. Paris and Romeo come with torches, and the Friar with a lantern. Romeo tells his servant to deliver the letter to his father "early in the morning." The night watchmen are still on duty. Since we can hardly send Juliet to bed before nine in the evening on Tuesday, thirty hours is the most that can be allowed for the interval, unless we add another day and accept the fifty-two of Maginn. But this does not seem required by anything in act v.βnot even by the "two days buried" of v. 3. 176, for Thursday would be the second day that she had lain in the tomb. The marriage was to be early on Wednesday morning, and the funeral took its place. Balthasar "presently took post" (v. 1. 21) to tell the news to Romeo at Mantua, less than twenty-five miles distant. He arrives before evening (cf. v. 1. 4: "all this day," which indicates the time), and Romeo at once says, "I will hence to-night." He has ample time to make his preparations and to reach Verona before two o'clock the next morning. He has been at the tomb only half an hour or so (v. 3. 130) before the Friar comes. It must have been near midnight (see v. 2. 23) when Friar John returned to Laurence's cell; so that, even if he had not been despatched to Mantua until that morning, he would have had time to go and return, but for his unexpected detention. I see no difficulty, therefore, in assuming that the drama closes on Thursday morning; the difficulty would be in prolonging the time to the next morning without making the action drag.
110. In thy best robes, etc. The Italian custom here alluded to, of carrying the dead body to the grave richly dressed and with the face uncovered (which is not mentioned by Paynter), S. found particularly described in Romeus and Juliet:β
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