Shakespeare's Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare (best book series to read txt) π
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44. Doubt. Distrust; as in J.C. ii. 1. 132, iv. 2. 13, etc.
45. Detestable. See on iv. 5. 52 above.
47. Enforce. Force; as often. Cf. Temp. v. 1. 100: "Enforce them to this place," etc.
50. With. Often used to express the relation of cause.
59. Good gentle youth, etc. "The gentleness of Romeo was shown before [iii. 1. 64 fol.] as softened by love, and now it is doubled by love and sorrow, and awe of the place where he is" (Coleridge).
68. Conjurations. Solemn entreaties; as in Rich. II. iii. 2. 23, Ham. v. 2. 38, etc. Some have taken it to mean incantations. Defy = refuse; as in K. John, iii. 4. 23: "I defy all counsel," etc.
74. Peruse. Scan, examine. Cf. Ham. iv. 7. 137: "peruse the foils," etc.
76. Betossed. Agitated; used by S. nowhere else.
82. Sour. See on iii. 3. 7 above.
84. Lantern. Used in the architectural sense of "a turret full of windows" (Steevens). Cf. Parker, Glossary of Architecture: "In Gothic architecture the term is sometimes applied to louvres on the roofs of halls, etc., but it usually signifies a tower which has the whole height, or a considerable portion of the interior, open to the ground, and is lighted by an upper tier of windows; lantern-towers of this kind are common over the centre of cross churches, as at York Minster, Ely Cathedral, etc. The same name is also given to the light open erections often placed on the top of towers, as at Boston, Lincolnshire," etc. The one at Boston was used as a lighthouse lantern in the olden time.
86. Presence. Presence-chamber, state apartment; as in Rich. II. i. 3. 289 and Hen. VIII. iii. 1. 17.
87. Death. The abstract for the concrete. The dead man is Romeo, who is so possessed with his suicidal purpose that he speaks of himself as dead. Steevens perversely calls it one of "those miserable conceits with which our author too frequently counteracts his own pathos."
88-120. How oft when men, etc. "Here, here, is the master example how beauty can at once increase and modify passion" (Coleridge).
90. A lightning before death. "A last blazing-up of the flame of life;" a proverbial expression. Steevens quotes The Downfall of Robert Earl of Huntington, 1601:β
Clarke notes "the mingling here of words and images full of light and colour with the murky grey of the sepulchral vault and the darkness of the midnight churchyard, the blending of these images of beauty and tenderness with the deep gloom of the speaker's inmost heart."
92. Suck'd the honey, etc. Cf. Ham. iii. 1. 164: "That suck'd the honey of his music vows." Steevens quotes Sidney, Arcadia: "Death being able to divide the soule, but not the beauty from her body."
96. Death's pale flag. Steevens compares Daniel, Complaint of Rosamond:β
97. Tybalt, etc. Cf. Brooke's poem:β
106. Still. Constantly, always; as very often. Cf. 270 below.
110. Set up my everlasting rest. That is, remain forever. To set up one's rest was a phrase taken from gaming, the rest being the highest stake the parties were disposed to venture; hence it came to mean to have fully made up one's mind, to be resolved. Here the form of expression seems to be suggested by the gaming phrase rather than to be a figurative example of it.
112-118. Eyes ... bark. Whiter points out a coincidence between this last speech of Romeo's and a former one (i. 4. 103 fol.) in which he anticipates his misfortunes. "The ideas drawn from the stars, the law, and the sea succeed each other in both speeches, in the same order, though with a different application."
115. Dateless. Limitless, eternal. Cf. Sonn. 30. 6: "death's dateless night;" Rich. III. i. 3. 151: "The dateless limit of thy dear exile," etc.
Engrossing. Malone says that the word "seems here to be used in its clerical sense." There seems to be at least a hint of that sense, suggested by seal and bargain; but the leading meaning is that of all-seizing, or "taking the whole," as Schmidt explains it.
116. Conduct. See on iii. 1. 127 above. For unsavoury, cf. V. and A. 1138: "sweet beginning, but unsavoury end." Schmidt, who rarely makes such a slip, treats both of these examples as literal rather than metaphorical. The only example of the former sense in S. (not really his) is Per. ii. 3. 31: "All viands that I eat do seem unsavoury."
118. Thy. Pope substituted "my," but thy may be defended on the nautical principle that the pilot is the master of the ship after he takes her in charge. That seems to be Romeo's thought here; he gives up the helm to the "desperate pilot," and says, "The ship is yours, run her upon the rocks if you will."
121. Be my speed. Cf. Hen. V. v. 2. 194: "Saint Denis be my speed!" A. Y. L. i. 2. 222: "Hercules be thy speed!" etc.
122. Stumbled at graves. The idea that to stumble is a bad omen is very ancient. Cicero mentions it in his De Divinatione. Melton, in his Astrologaster, 1620, says that "if a man stumbles in a morning as soon as he comes out of dores, it is a signe of ill lucke." Bishop Hall, in his Characters, says of the "Superstitious Man" that "if he stumbled at the threshold, he feares a mischief." Stumbling at graves is alluded to in Whimzies, or a New Cast of Characters, 1631: "His earth-reverting body (according to his mind) is to be buried in some cell, roach, or vault, and in no open space, lest passengers (belike) might stumble on his grave." Steevens cites 3 Hen. VI. iv. 7. 11 and Rich. III. iii. 4. 86.
127. Capels'. See on v. 1. 18 above.
138. I dreamt, etc. Steevens considers this a touch or nature: "What happens to a person under the manifest influence of fear will seem to him, when he is recovered from it, like a dream." It seems to me more likely that the man confuses what he saw while half asleep with what he might have dreamt.
145. Unkind. Usually accented on the first syllable before a noun, but otherwise on the second. This often occurs with dis-syllabic adjectives and participles. Unkind and its derivatives are often used by S. in a much stronger sense than at present. In some cases, the etymological sense of unnatural (cf. kind and kindly = natural) seems to cling to them. Cf. J.C. iii. 2. 187, Lear, i. 1. 263, iii. 4. 73, etc.
148. Comfortable. Used in an active sense = ready to comfort or help; as in A.W. i. 1. 86, Lear, i. 4. 328, etc.
158. The watch. It has been asserted by some of the critics that there was no watch in the old Italian cities; but, however that may have been, S. follows Brooke's poem:β
162. Timeless. Untimely. Cf. T.G. of V. iii. 1. 21: "your timeless grave;" Rich. II. iv. 1. 5: "his timeless end," etc.
163. Drunk all, and left. The reading of 2nd quarto. The 1st has "drink ... leave," and the folio "drink ... left."
170. There rest. From 1st quarto; the other early eds. have "rust," which some editors prefer. To me rest seems both more poetical and more natural. That at this time Juliet should think of "Romeo's dagger, which would otherwise rust in its sheath, as rusting in her heart," is quite inconceivable. It is a "conceit" of the worst Elizabethan type.
The tragedy here ends in Booth's Acting Copy (Furness).
173. Attach. Arrest; as in C. of E. iv. 1. 6, 73, iv. 4. 6, Rich. II. ii. 3. 156, Hen. VIII. i. 1. 217, i. 2. 210, etc.
176. These two days. See on iv. 1. 105 above.
181. Without circumstance. Without further particulars. Cf. ii. 5. 36 above.
203. His house. Its sheath. See on ii, 6. 12 above.
204. On the back. The dagger was commonly turned behind and worn at the back, as Steevens shows by sundry quotations.
207. Old age. A slip which, strangely enough, no editor or commentator has noticed. Furness notes no reference to it, and I find none in more recent editions. See on i. 3. 51 above.
211. Grief of my son's exile. Cf. Much Ado, iv. 2. 65: "and upon the grief of this suddenly died." For the accent of exile, cf. iii. 1. 190 and iii. 3. 20 above.
After this line the 1st quarto has the following: "And yong Benuolio is deceased too;" but, as Ulrici remarks, "the pacific, considerate Benvolio, the constant counseller of moderation, ought not to be involved in the fate which had overtaken the extremes of hate and passion."
214. Manners. S. makes the word either singular or plural, like news, tidings (see on iii. 5. 105 above), etc. Cf. A. W. ii. 2. 9, W. T. iv. 4. 244, etc. with T. N. iv. 1. 53, Rich. III. iii. 7. 191, etc.
216. Outrage. Cf. 1 Hen. VI. iv. 1. 126:β
There, as here, it means a mad outcry. Dyce quotes Settle, Female Prelate: "Silence his outrage in a jayl, away with him!"
221. Patience. A trisyllable. See on v. 1. 27 above. In the next line suspicion is
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