As You Like It (34 page)

85
do him right
speak truly of him

86
free
innocent

89
Forbear
stop

92
Of … of?
Where has this young cockerel sprung from?

94
rude
uncivilized

96
touched … first
hit it with your first suggestion

98
inland bred
civilized

99
nurture
education, good upbringing

101
answerèd
satisfied

102
reason
may pun on “raisin” (grape), possibly part of the
fruit
at the meal

103
gentleness
nobility/civilized conduct

109
countenance
appearance/expression

112
melancholy
dark, gloomy

115
knolled
rung (to summon people)

119
enforcement
constraint

126
upon command
at will

127
wanting
needs

133
weak
causing weakness

136
waste
consume

138
unhappy
ill-fated

146
acts
actions/divisions of a play

147
Mewling
whimpering, mewing

153
strange
foreign

153
bearded … pard
with a bristling beard like a leopard’s whiskers

154
Jealous in
quick to defend his

157
capon
chicken (technically a castrated cockerel)

159
saws
sayings

159
modern instances
everyday examples

161
pantaloon
in Italian comedy, the foolish elderly man who wore spectacles, pantaloons (type of trousers), and slippers

163
hose
breeches

164
shank
leg

166
his
its

167
history
history play/narrative

168
mere
complete

169
Sans
without

169
eyes
eyesight

175
fall to
eat

177.1
Song
often sung by Amiens, assuming he is among the lords onstage for this scene

179
unkind
cruel/unnatural

181
keen
sharp

183
rude
rough

189
nigh
close

191
warp
wrinkle/become corrugated by turning to ice

196
faithfully
convincingly/truly

197
effigies
likeness

198
limned
portrayed

204
fortunes
adventures

Act 3 Scene 1

3.1
Location: the court

1
him
i.e. Orlando

2
better
greater

2
made
made of

3
argument
subject

4
present
being present (i.e. I would vent my wrath on you instead)

7
turn
return

10
seizure
taking legal possession of

11
quit … mouth
acquit yourself by means of your brother’s own testimony

16
of … nature
whose responsibility it is

17
Make … upon
seize

18
expediently
promptly

18
turn him going
send him packing

Act 3 Scene 2

3.2
Location: the forest
(
where all remaining scenes are set
)

2
thrice-crownèd … night
the goddess of the moon, hunting, and chastity, known as Luna/Cynthia/Phoebe in the heavens, Diana/Artemis on earth, and Proserpina/Hecate/Lucina in the underworld

4
Thy huntress
i.e. Rosalind

4
sway
rule

6
character
write

10
unexpressive
inexpressible

16
private
lonely

18
spare
frugal

18
humour
temperament

19
plenty
abundance/comforts of life/food

20
stomach
inclination/appetite

22
wants
lacks

26
art
education

27
complain of
lament the lack of/complain about

28
natural
instinctive/foolish/rustic

32
hope
i.e. hope not

33
ill-roasted … side
eggs were roasted in the hot ashes of the fire and required turning for even cooking

37
manners
proper behavior/morals

39
parlous
perilous

43
but you kiss
without kissing

45
Instance
evidence/give an example

46
still
always

46
fells
fleeces

49
grease
sweat

54
tarred … sheep
tar, having antiseptic properties, was applied to injured sheep

56
civet
musky substance used in perfume and obtained from the anal glands of the civet cat

57
worms-meat
i.e. rotten flesh

57
respect of
comparison with

59
perpend
consider

60
flux
flow

60
Mend
improve

61
rest
cease (Touchstone shifts sense to “remain”)

63
make incision
cut, as
raw
meat is scored and salted for cooking/cut, for the medical purpose of letting blood (and curing folly)/graft on (wisdom), as a plant is cultivated

63
raw
inexperienced/ignorant/uncooked

64
that
what

64
get
earn

66
content … harm
patient in my own afflictions

68
simple
foolish

69
offer
presume/venture

70
cattle
animals/whores

70
bawd
pimp

70
bell-wether
leading male sheep of a flock (with a bell around its neck)

71
crooked-pated
with crooked/curled horns

72
cuckoldly
a cuckold (man with an unfaithful wife) was traditionally said to grow horns

72
out of
beyond the limits of

77
Ind
Indies

81
lined
drawn

82
black to
dark-complexioned, foul compared to

84
fair
beauty/light complexion

85
together
continuously

86
It … market
i.e. the predictable verse resembles either the jogging to market of country women in a cart or the eager lust of a whore to put herself to sale

86
butter-women
butter sellers/lecherous women/whores

87
rank
movement in line/lustful

90
hart
male deer

90
hind
female deer

92
after kind
act according to its nature (proverbial; plays on the sense of “have sex”)

94
Wintered
worn in winter/old

94
lined
plays on notion of sex between dogs, giving bawdy connotations to the next line (i.e. Rosalind will lose her slenderness to pregnancy)

96
reap
perhaps with slang sense of “have sex”

96
sheaf and bind
tie the crop into bundles (perhaps with suggestion of pregnancy)

97
cart
transport the crop in a cart/punish a prostitute by publicly carrying her in or whipping her behind a cart

98
nut
plays on the sense of “vagina”

100
rose
plays on the sense of “vagina”

101
prick
thorn/penis

102
false gallop
canter

105
fruit
plays on sense of “genitals”

106
graff
graft i.e. make one plant grow onto another (plays on the sense of “have sex”)

107
medlar
tree bearing applelike fruits/medlar fruit (resembles the vagina)/pun on “meddler” (prostitute)

108
rotten
infected with venereal disease

108
right virtue
true character

114
For
because

116
civil sayings
civilized reflections

118
his erring
its wandering

119
span
distance from thumb to little finger

120
Buckles in
encompasses

127
quintessence
purest essence/extract

127
sprite
spirit

128
in little
in miniature (i.e. in the form of Rosalind)

129
Nature charged
ordered Nature

131
wide-enlarged
(that had been) widely dispersed

132
presently
immediately

133
Helen’s … heart
i.e. Helen of Troy’s beauty but not her deceitful heart; when Paris carried Helen off to Troy war broke out between the Greeks and the Trojans

134
Cleopatra
famous Egyptian queen

135
Atalanta’s better part
presumably her beauty or perhaps athletic skill; Atalanta declared that she would marry only the man who could defeat her in a race, whereas losing suitors would be killed

136
Lucretia’s modesty
raped by Tarquin, Lucretia was so ashamed she committed suicide

138
synod
assembly/conjunction of planets

140
touches
features

141
would
willed

142
I to
that I should

143
Jupiter
, king of the gods who carried off the beautiful youth Ganymede

146
Back
(to Corin and Touchstone) move back

147
sirrah
sir (used to an inferior)

149
bag and baggage
collective property of an army

149
scrip and scrippage
nonce phrase referring to a shepherd’s pouch (
scrip
) and its contents

153
feet
i.e. metrical feet

160
seven … wonder
from the phrase “a nine days’ wonder” (so Rosalind has been wondering about the verses for quite a while)

162
Pythagoras
Greek philosopher who believed in the transmigration of souls from humans to animals

162
that
when

163
Irish rat
supposedly the Irish could kill rats with rhyming incantations

164
Trow
know

166
And a chain
i.e. yes, it is, and one with a chain

167
Change you colour?
Are you blushing?

169
friends
plays on the sense of “lovers”

169
friends … encounter
inversion of the proverb “friends may meet, but mountains never greet”

169
encounter
plays on the sense of “sexual union”

173
possible
i.e. that you do not know

174
I … vehemence
I earnestly beg you

176
wonderful
incredible

177
out … whooping
beyond what all shouts of astonishment can express

179
Good my complexion!
Oh (have
mercy
on) my temperament/curiosity!

180
caparisoned
dressed

181
South … discovery
i.e. as lengthy as an exploratory voyage over the South Seas