A Midsummer Night's Dream (30 page)

161
seven leagues
about twenty-one miles

162
respects
considers

167
without
outside

169
do … May
i.e. celebrate May Day

170
stay
wait

172
Cupid
Roman god of love

173
best … head
i.e. one causing love (Cupid's lead arrows were supposed to induce loathing)

174
simplicity
innocence

174
doves
symbols of fidelity, these birds drew the goddess of love's chariot

175
knitteth
binds together

176
Carthage queen
Dido, who committed suicide on a pyre when Aeneas deserted her

177
false Troyan
the Trojan Aeneas

183
fair
beautiful/fair-complexioned

185
happy
favored, lucky

186
lodestars
guiding stars

186
air
melody

187
tuneable
harmonious

188
green
fresh, new

189
favour
good looks/a favorable attitude

190
catch
seize

193
bated
omitted (with play on “baited, hooked”)

194
translated
transformed

200
move
arouse

203
none
i.e. no fault

206
fly
flee

212
Phoebe
another name for the Roman moon goddess

213
glass
mirror (i.e. water)

215
still
always

218
faint
pale

218
wont
accustomed

219
counsel
inmost thoughts/advice

222
strange
foreign, new

229
o'er other some
more than others

232
all
everyone else

235
quantity
value/substance/proportion (to what love makes them into)

236
form
ordered, attractive appearance/substance

238
blind
Cupid was traditionally depicted as a sightless
child

239
of … taste
the least bit of reason

240
figure
symbolize

242
beguiled
deceived, misguided

243
waggish
playful, mischievous

243
game
jest/play

243
themselves forswear
break their word

245
eyne
eyes

251
intelligence
information

252
dear expense
effort worth making/high price to pay (as Demetrius will pursue Hermia)/begrudging gratitude (from Demetrius)

Act 1, Scene 2

1.2
Quince
probably from “quines” or “quoins,” a
carpenter's
wooden wedges

1.2
Snug
close-fitting; a good name for a
joiner
(craftsman who makes furniture)

1.2
Bottom
the core onto which the
weaver's
yarn was wound, or a ball of thread; did not have modern sense of “arse”
Flute
suggests the fluted pipes of a church organ operated by
bellows;
perhaps Flute also has a reedy, high voice

1.2
Snout
possibly Snout has a large nose (some editors suppose a reference to the spout of a kettle, which a
tinker
would have to mend, but sixteenth-century kettles did not have spouts)

1.2
Starveling
tailors were proverbially thin

2
generally
malapropism for “severally” (i.e. individually)

3
scrip
scrap of paper/script (i.e. what is written down; the word did not have its modern theatrical sense)

5
interlude
short play

7
treats on
deals with, is about

8
grow … point
approach a conclusion

10
Marry
by the Virgin Mary

14
spread yourselves
spread out

20
ask
require

22
condole
express great sorrow

23
humour
inclination

23
Ercles
i.e. the Greek hero Hercules

23
rarely
magnificently, exceptionally

24
tear … in
rant and bluster

24
split
go to pieces

26
shivering
shattering

29
Phibbus' car
the chariot of Phoebus, the sun god

31
mar
ruin

32
Fates
three goddesses in control of human destiny

33
lofty
grandiose, exalted, impressive

34
vein
temperament

38
wand'ring
i.e. on a mission

42
That's all one
it doesn't matter

43
small
high-pitched

43
will
can

44
An
if

52
Thisbe's … Thisbe's father
these characters never actually appear

57
fitted
equipped, provided for (perhaps maintaining the language of joinery)

60
do it extempore
improvise

70
discretion
sound judgment

71
aggravate
malapropism for “moderate”

72
roar
roar for

72
sucking dove
conflation of “sitting dove” and “sucking lamb,” both proverbially quiet and gentle

72
an 'twere
as if it were

75
proper
handsome

81
discharge
perform

81
your
i.e. you know the sort

82
orange-tawny
yellowish-brown

82
purple-in-grain
dyed red

83
French-crown-coloured
i.e. the gold color of the French coin

84
crowns
heads; baldness was an effect of syphilis (“the French disease”)

87
con
learn

90
devices
plans

91
draw
draw up

91
bill
list

94
obscenely
malapropism, perhaps for “seemly” or “obscurely”

94
courageously
spiritedly

94
perfect
word perfect

96
hold … bowstrings
archers' saying, possibly meaning “stand firm and fight, or cut your bowstrings in preparation for capture”

Act 2, Scene 1

2.1
Location: a wood near Athens Robin Goodfellow
name traditionally given to a mischievous hobgoblin

2.1
Puck
a kind of mischievous goblin

4
park
enclosed hunting ground

4
pale
fenced-in area

5
Thorough
through

7
sphere
stars and planets were thought to be contained within revolving hollow spheres

9
orbs
i.e. fairy rings (dark circles in the grass)

10
pensioners
bodyguards

12
favours
tokens of favor

13
savours
(sweet) scent

16
lob
country bumpkin

17
anon
soon

20
passing fell
excessively fierce

20
wrath
angry

23
changeling
child taken by the fairies (usually exchanged for a fairy child)

25
trace
traverse

26
perforce
forcibly

29
fountain
spring

29
sheen
brightness

30
square
quarrel

32
making
physical appearance

32
quite
entirely

33
shrewd
cunning

35
villagery
villages

36
Skim
take the cream off

36
quern
churn; also a mill for grinding corn

37
bootless
in vain

38
barm
yeasty froth on top of fermenting ale

39
mislead
i.e. with false fire that moves from place to place

46
bean-fed
well-fed

47
filly
female

48
gossip's
old friend's

48
bowl
i.e. drinking cup

49
crab
crab apple

51
dewlap
loose fold of skin hanging at the neck

52
aunt
old woman

55
“tailor”
cry of surprise; possibly because she ends up sitting on the floor (customary posture for tailors), or because she sits on her “tail” (i.e.
bum
)

56
quire
company

57
waxen
increase

57
neeze
sneeze

58
wasted
spent

59
room
make way

59
Oberon
name often given to the King of Fairies

59.1
Titania
used by Ovid to refer to Diana (moon goddess) and Circe (enchantress)

64
Tarry
stay

64
wanton
willful one, perhaps also with sense of “promiscuous”

64
lord
husband

65
lady
wife

67
Corin
conventional pastoral name

68
corn
straw

68
versing
composing/uttering verses of

69
Phillida
conventional pastoral name

70
step
limit

71
forsooth
in truth

71
bouncing
big, strapping (perhaps with sexual connotations)

72
buskined
wearing high hunting boots (“buskins”)

76
Glance at
refer to/cast aspersions on

76
credit
favor

78
glimmering
twinkling, shimmering

79
Perigenia
(sometimes spelled “Perigouna”) Theseus slept with her after he killed her robber father

79
ravishèd
carried off/seized/raped

80
Aegles
nymph loved by Theseus

81
Ariadne
she helped Theseus find his way out of the labyrinth; he then abandoned her

81
Antiopa
Amazon seduced or abducted by Theseus before being abandoned by him

83
middle summer's spring
i.e. beginning of midsummer

84
mead
meadow

85
pavèd
with a pebbly base

85
rushy
edged with rushes

86
in
on

86
beachèd
covered with shingle

86
margent
margin, edge

87
ringlets
circular fairy dance

88
brawls
quarrels/noise; also lively French dance (contrasts with calmer
ringlets
)

88
sport
recreation

89
piping
whistling

91
Contagious
pestilential/harmful

92
petty
small

92
proud
swollen

93
overborne their continents
exceeded their boundaries (i.e. flooded)