Shakespeare's Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare (best book series to read txt) π
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11. Mouse-hunt. A woman-hunter. For mouse as a term of endearment, see Ham. iii. 4. 183, L. L. L. v. 2. 19, and T.N. i. 5. 69.
13. Jealous-hood. Jealousy; the abstract for the concrete; used by S. only here.
16. Drier logs. For the kitchen; not a slip like that in i. 5. 30.
21. Logger-head. Blockhead. Cf. L. L. L. iv. 3. 204: "Ah, you whoreson loggerhead!" So logger-headed; as in T. of S. iv. 1. 128: "You logger-headed and unpolish'd grooms!"
Scene V.β3. Sweet-heart. Accented on the last syllable; as regularly in S. (cf. Hen. VIII. i. 4. 94, etc.) except in W. T. iv. 4. 664: "take your sweet-heart's hat." Schmidt would print it as two words (as is common in the old eds.) except in this latter passage.
28. Will not let me speak. Malone remarks: "S. has here followed the poem closely, without recollecting that he had made Capulet, in this scene, clamorous in his grief. In Romeus and Juliet, Juliet's mother makes a long speech, but the old man utters not a word:β
The poem may have suggested Capulet's speech; but S. is not at fault in making him afterwards find his tongue and become "clamorous in his grief." That was perfectly natural.
36. Life, living. There is no necessity for emendation, as some have supposed. Living is = means of living, possessions; as in M. of V. v. 1. 286: "you have given me life and living," etc.
37. Thought. Expected, hoped; as in Much Ado, ii. 3. 236, etc.
41. Labour. Referring to the toilsome progress of time, as in T. of A. iii. 4. 8 (Delius).
44. Catch'd. Also used for the participle in L. L. L. v. 2. 69 and A. W. i. 3. 176; and for the past tense in Cor. i. 3. 68. Elsewhere S. has caught.
45. O woe! White thinks that in "this speech of mock heroic woe" S. ridicules the translation of Seneca's Tragedies (1581); but it is in keeping with the character. Probably this and the next two speeches belong to the early draft of the play, with much that precedes and follows.
52. Detestable. For the accent on the first syllable (as always in S.), cf. K. John, iii. 4. 29, T. of A. iv. 1. 33, and v. 3. 45 below.
55. Despis'd, distressed, etc. In this line, as in 51, note the mixture of contracted and uncontracted participles.
56. Uncomfortable. Cheerless, joyless; the one instance of the word in S.
60. Buried. A trisyllable here; as in v. 3. 176 below.
61. Confusion's. Here, the word is = ruin, death; but in the next line it is = confused lamentations. Cf. R. of L. 445: "fright her with confusion of their cries."
66. His. Its. Heaven is not personified here.
67. Promotion. A quadrisyllable here.
72. Well. Often thus used of the dead. Cf. W.T. v. 1. 30, 2 Hen. IV. v. 2. 3, Macb. iv. 3. 179, A. and C. ii. 5. 33, etc. See also v. 1. 17 below.
75. Rosemary. That is, the rosemary that had been brought for the wedding; for it was used at both weddings and funerals. Cf. Herrick, The Rosemarie Branch:β
and Dekker, Wonderful Year: "The rosemary that was washed in sweet water to set out the bridal, is now wet in tears to furnish her burial." Cf. ii. 4. 198 above.
76. As the custom is. See on iv. 1. 110 above.
78. Fond. Foolish (cf. iii. 3. 52 above), as opposed to reason.
80. All things, etc. Cf. Brooke's poem:β
95. Case. There is a play upon the other sense of the word (a case for a musical instrument); as in W.T. iv. 4. 844: "but though my case be a pitiful one, I hope I shall not be flayed out of it" (that is, out of my skin).
96. Enter Peter. From the quartos we learn that William Kempe played the part of Peter, as he did that of Dogberry in Much Ado.
In explanation of the introduction of this part of the scene, Knight remarks: "It was the custom of our ancient theatre to introduce, in the irregular pauses of a play that stood in place of a division into acts, some short diversions, such as a song, a dance, or the extempore buffoonery of a clown. At this point of R. and J. there is a natural pause in the action, and at this point such an interlude would probably have been presented, whether S. had written one or not.... Will Kempe was the Liston of his day, and was as great a popular favourite as Tarleton had been before him. It was wise, therefore, in S. to find some business for Will Kempe that should not be entirely out of harmony with the great business of his play. The scene of the musicians is very short, and, regarded as a necessary part of the routine of the ancient stage, is excellently managed. Nothing can be more naturally exhibited than the indifference of hirelings, without attachment, to a family scene of grief. Peter and the musicians bandy jokes; and though the musicians think Peter a 'pestilent knave,' perhaps for his inopportune sallies, they are ready enough to look after their own gratification, even amidst the sorrow which they see around them. A wedding or a burial is the same to them. 'Come, we'll in here; tarry for the mourners, and stay dinner.' So S. read the course of the worldβand it is not much changed."
"To our minds," says Clarke, "the intention was to show how grief and gayety, pathos and absurdity, sorrow and jesting, elbow each other in life's crowd; how the calamities of existence fall heavily upon the souls of some, while others, standing close beside the grievers, feel no jot of suffering or sympathy. Far from the want of harmony that has been found here, we feel it to be one of those passing discords that produce richest and fullest effect of harmonious contrivance."
Furness states that in Edwin Booth's acting copy this scene of Peter and the musicians is transposed to i. 5. 17 above.
99. Heart's ease. A popular tune of the time, mentioned in Misogonus, a play by Thomas Rychardes, written before 1570.
101. My heart is full of woe. The burden of the first stanza of A Pleasant new Ballad of Two Lovers: "Hey hoe! my heart is full of woe" (Steevens).
102. Dump. A mournful or plaintive song or melody. Calling it merry is a joke of Peter's. Cf. T.G. of V. iii. 2. 85: "A deploring dump." See also R. of L. 1127.
109. Gleek. Scoff. Cf. 1 Hen. VI. iii. 2. 123: "Now where's the Bastard's braves, and Charles his gleeks?" To give the gleek was "to pass a jest upon, to make a person ridiculous." It is impossible to say what is the joke in give you the minstrel. Some suppose that gleek suggests gleeman, one form of which in Anglo-Saxon was gligman, but no such form is found in English, if we may trust the New Eng. Dict. The reply of the musician may perhaps mean "that he will retort by calling Peter the servant to the minstrel" (White).
114. I will carry no crotchets. I will bear none of your whims; with a play on crotchets, as in Much Ado, ii. 3. 58. Cf. carry coals in i. 1. 1 above. The play on note is obvious.
120. Drybeat. See on iii. 1. 81 above. For have at you, cf. i. 1. 64 above.
122. When griping grief, etc. From a poem by Richard Edwards, in the Paradise of Daintie Devises. See also Percy's Reliques.
126. Catling. A small string of catgut. Cf. T. and C. iii. 3. 306: "unless the fiddler Apollo get his sinews to make catlings on."
132. Pretty. Some of the German critics are troubled by pretty, because Peter does not intend to praise; and irony, they say, would be out of place. It is simply a jocose patronizing expression = That's not bad in its way, but you haven't hit it. The rebeck was a kind of three-stringed fiddle. Cf. Milton, L'All. 94: "And the jocund rebecks sound," etc.
141. Pestilent. Often used in an opprobrious sense; as in Lear, i. 4. 127: "A pestilent gall to me!" Oth. ii. 1. 252: "A pestilent complete knave," etc.
142. Jack. See on iii. 1. 12 above; and for stay = wait for, on ii. 5. 36.
ACT V Scene. I.β1. The flattering truth. This is apparently = that which bears the flattering semblance of truth. It has perplexed some of the critics, but their emendations do not better it. For flattering in the sense of illusive, cf. ii. 2. 141. Some have wondered that S. here makes the presentiment a hopeful one; but as a writer in the Cornhill Magazine (October, 1866) remarks, the presentiment was true, but Romeo did not trust it. Had he done so, his fate would not have been so tragic.
3. My bosom's lord. That is, my heart; not Love, or Cupid, as some would make it. Lines 3-5
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