William Shakespeare: The Complete Works 2nd Edition (194 page)
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Authors: William Shakespeare
Tags: #Drama, #Literary Criticism, #Shakespeare
BOOK: William Shakespeare: The Complete Works 2nd Edition
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STARVELING I fear it, I promise you.
BOTTOM Masters, you ought to consider with yourself, to bring in—God shield us—a lion among ladies is a most dreadful thing; for there is not a more fearful wild fowl than your lion living, and we ought to look to’t.
SNOUT Therefore another prologue must tell he is not a lion.
BOTTOM Nay, you must name his name, and half his face must be seen through the lion’s neck, and he himself must speak through, saying thus or to the same defect: ‘ladies’, or ‘fair ladies, I would wish you’ or ‘I would request you’ or ‘I would entreat you not to fear, not to tremble. My life for yours. If you think I come hither as a lion, it were pity of my life. No, I am no such thing. I am a man, as other men are’—and there, indeed, let him name his name, and tell them plainly he is Snug the joiner.
QUINCE Well, it shall be so; but there is two hard things: that is, to bring the moonlight into a chamber—for you know Pyramus and Thisbe meet by moonlight.
⌈SNOUT⌉ Doth the moon shine that night we play our play?
BOTTOM A calendar, a catendar—took in the almanac, find out moonshine, find out moonshine.
⌈
Enter Robin Goodfellow the puck, invisible
⌉
QUINCE ⌈
with a book
⌉ Yes, it doth shine that night.
with a book
⌉ Yes, it doth shine that night.
BOTTOM Why, then may you leave a casement of the great chamber window where we play open, and the moon may shine in at the casement.
QUINCE Ay, or else one must come in with a bush of thorns and a lantern and say he comes to disfigure, or to present, the person of Moonshine. Then there is another thing: we must have a wall in the great chamber; for Pyramus and Thisbe, says the story, did talk through the chink of a wall.
SNOUT You can never bring in a wall. What say you, Bottom?
BOTTOM Some man or other must present Wall; and let him have some plaster, or some loam, or some roughcast about him, to signify ‘wall’; and let him hold his fingers thus, and through that cranny shall Pyramus and Thisbe whisper.
QUINCE If that may be, then all is well. Come, sit down every mother’s son, and rehearse your parts. Pyramus, you begin. When you have spoken your speech, enter into that brake; and so everyone according to his cue.
ROBIN (
aside
)
aside
)
What hempen homespuns have we swagg’ring here
So near the cradle of the Fairy Queen?
What, a play toward? I’ll be an auditor—
An actor, too, perhaps, if I see cause.
So near the cradle of the Fairy Queen?
What, a play toward? I’ll be an auditor—
An actor, too, perhaps, if I see cause.
QUINCE Speak, Pyramus. Thisbe, stand forth.
BOTTOM (as Pyramus)
Thisbe, the flowers of odious savours sweet.
QUINCE Odours, odours.
BOTTOM (as Pyramus) Odours savours sweet.
So hath thy breath, my dearest Thisbe dear.
But hark, a voice. Stay thou but here a while,
And by and by I will to thee appear. Exit
But hark, a voice. Stay thou but here a while,
And by and by I will to thee appear. Exit
⌈ROBIN⌉
(aside)
(aside)
A stranger Pyramus than e’er played here. Exit
FLUTE Must I speak now ?
QUINCE Ay, marry must you. For you must understand he goes but to see a noise that he heard, and is to come again. 86
FLUTE (as Thisbe)
Most radiant Pyramus, most lily-white of hue,
Of colour like the red rose on triumphant brier;
Most bristly juvenile, and eke most lovely Jew,
As true as truest horse that yet would never tire:
I’ll meet thee, Pyramus, at Ninny’s tomb.
Of colour like the red rose on triumphant brier;
Most bristly juvenile, and eke most lovely Jew,
As true as truest horse that yet would never tire:
I’ll meet thee, Pyramus, at Ninny’s tomb.
QUINCE Ninus’ tomb, man!—Why, you must not speak that yet. That you answer to Pyramus. You speak all your part at once, cues and all.—Pyramus, enter: your cue is past; it is ‘never tire’.
FLUTE O.
(As Thisbe) As true as truest horse that yet would
never tire.
Enter ⌈
Robin leading
⌉
Bottom with the ass-head
never tire.
Enter ⌈
Robin leading
⌉
Bottom with the ass-head
BOTTOM
(as Pyramus)
(as Pyramus)
If I were fair, Thisbe, I were only thine.
QUINCE O monstrousl O strange! We are haunted. Pray, masters; fly, masters: help! ⌈
The clowns all exeunt
⌉
The clowns all exeunt
⌉
ROBIN
I’ll follow you, I’ll lead you about a round,
Through bog, through bush, through brake,
through brier.
Sometime a horse I’ll be, sometime a hound,
A hog, a headless bear, sometime a fire,
And neigh, and bark, and grunt, and roar, and burn,
Like horse, hound, hog, bear, fire, at every turn. Exit
Through bog, through bush, through brake,
through brier.
Sometime a horse I’ll be, sometime a hound,
A hog, a headless bear, sometime a fire,
And neigh, and bark, and grunt, and roar, and burn,
Like horse, hound, hog, bear, fire, at every turn. Exit
⌈
Enter Bottom again, with the ass-head
⌉
BOTTOM Why do they run away? This is a knavery of them to make me afeard.
Enter Snout
SNOUT O Bottom, thou art changed. What do I see on thee?
BOTTOM What do you see? You see an ass-head of your own, do you? ⌈
Exit Snout
⌉
Exit Snout
⌉
Enter Quince
QUINCE Bless thee, Bottom, bless thee. Thou art translated. Exit
BOTTOM I see their knavery. This is to make an ass of me, to fright me, if they could; but I will not stir from this place, do what they can. I will walk up and down here, and I will sing, that they shall hear I am not afraid.
(Sings)
The ousel cock so black of hue,
With orange-tawny bill;
The throstle with his note so true,
The wren with little quill.
TITANIA (
awaking)
awaking)
What angel wakes me from my flow’ry bed?
BOTTOM (sings)
The finch, the sparrow, and the lark,
The plainsong cuckoo grey,
Whose note full many a man doth mark,
And dares not answer ‘Nay’—
for indeed, who would set his wit to so foolish a bird?
Who would give a bird the lie, though he cry ’Cuckoo’
never so?
Who would give a bird the lie, though he cry ’Cuckoo’
never so?
TITANIA
I pray thee, gentle mortal, sing again.
Mine ear is much enamoured of thy note;
So is mine eye enthralled to thy shape;
And thy fair virtue’s force perforce doth move me
On the first view to say, to swear, I love thee.
Mine ear is much enamoured of thy note;
So is mine eye enthralled to thy shape;
And thy fair virtue’s force perforce doth move me
On the first view to say, to swear, I love thee.
BOTTOM Methinks, mistress, you should have little reason for that. And yet, to say the truth, reason and love keep little company together nowadays—the more the pity that some honest neighbours will not make them friends. Nay, I can gleek upon occasion.
TITANIA
Thou art as wise as thou art beautiful.
BOTTOM Not so, neither; but if I had wit enough to get out of this wood, I have enough to serve mine own turn.
TITANIA
Out of this wood do not desire to go.
Thou shalt remain here, whether thou wilt or no.
I am a spirit of no common rate:
The summer still doth tend upon my state;
And I do love thee. Therefore go with me.
I’ll give thee fairies to attend on thee,
And they shall fetch thee jewels from the deep,
And sing while thou on pressed flowers dost sleep;
And I will purge thy mortal grossness so
That thou shalt like an airy spirit go.
Peaseblossom, Cobweb, Mote, and Mustardseed!
Thou shalt remain here, whether thou wilt or no.
I am a spirit of no common rate:
The summer still doth tend upon my state;
And I do love thee. Therefore go with me.
I’ll give thee fairies to attend on thee,
And they shall fetch thee jewels from the deep,
And sing while thou on pressed flowers dost sleep;
And I will purge thy mortal grossness so
That thou shalt like an airy spirit go.
Peaseblossom, Cobweb, Mote, and Mustardseed!
Enter four fairies:
Peaseblossom,
Cobweb, Mote, and
Mustardseed
A FAIRY
Ready.
ANOTHER And I.
ANOTHER And I.
ANOTHER And I.
⌈ALL FOUR⌉ Where shall we go?
TITANIA
Be kind and courteous to this gentleman.
Hop in his walks, and gambol in his eyes.
Feed him with apricots and dewberries,
With purple grapes, green figs, and mulberries;
The honeybags steal from the humble-bees,
And for night tapers crop their waxen thighs
And light them at the fiery glow-worms’ eyes
To have my love to bed, and to arise;
And pluck the wings from painted butterflies
To fan the moonbeams from his sleeping eyes.
Nod to him, elves, and do him courtesies.
Hop in his walks, and gambol in his eyes.
Feed him with apricots and dewberries,
With purple grapes, green figs, and mulberries;
The honeybags steal from the humble-bees,
And for night tapers crop their waxen thighs
And light them at the fiery glow-worms’ eyes
To have my love to bed, and to arise;
And pluck the wings from painted butterflies
To fan the moonbeams from his sleeping eyes.
Nod to him, elves, and do him courtesies.
A FAIRY Hail, mortal.
⌈FANOTHER⌉ Hall.
ANOTHER Hail.
ANOTHER Hail.
BOTTOM I cry your worships mercy, heartily.—I beseech your worship’s name.
COBWEB Cobweb.
BOTTOM I shall desire you of more acquaintance, good Master Cobweb. If I cut my finger, I shall make bold with you.—Your name, honest gentleman?
PEASEBLOSSOM Peaseblossom.
bottom I pray you commend me to Mistress Squash, your mother, and to Master Peascod, your father. Good Master Peaseblossom, I shall desire you of more acquaintance, too.—Your name, I beseech you, sir?
MUSTARDSEED Mustardseed.
BOTTOM Good Master Mustardseed, I know your patience well. That same cowardly giantlike ox-beef hath devoured many a gentleman of your house. I promise you your kindred hath made my eyes water ere now. I desire you of more acquaintance, good Master Mustardseed.
TITANIA (
to the Fairies
)
to the Fairies
)
Come, wait upon him, lead him to my bower.
The moon, methinks, looks with a wat’ry eye,
And when she weeps, weeps every little flower,
Lamenting some enforced chastity.
Tie up my love’s tongue; bring him silently. Exeunt
3.2The moon, methinks, looks with a wat’ry eye,
And when she weeps, weeps every little flower,
Lamenting some enforced chastity.
Tie up my love’s tongue; bring him silently. Exeunt
Enter Oberon, King of Fairies
OBERON
I wonder if Titania be awaked,
Then what it was that next came in her eye,
Which she must dote on in extremity.
Here comes my messenger. How now, mad spirit?
What nightrule now about this haunted grove?
Then what it was that next came in her eye,
Which she must dote on in extremity.
Enter Robin Goodfellow
What nightrule now about this haunted grove?
ROBIN
My mistress with a monster is in love.
Near to her close and consecrated bower
While she was in her dull and sleeping hour
A crew of patches, rude mechanicals
That work for bread upon Athenian stalls,
Were met together to rehearse a play
Intended for great Theseus’ nuptial day.
The shallowest thickskin of that barren sort,
Who Pyramus presented, in their sport
Forsook his scene and entered in a brake,
When I did him at this advantage take.
An ass’s nole I fixèd on his head
.
Anon his Thisbe must be answered,
And forth my mimic comes. When they him spy—
As wild geese that the creeping fowler eye,
Or russet-pated choughs, many in sort,
Rising and cawing at the gun’s report,
Sever themselves and madly sweep the sky—
So, at his sight, away his fellows fly,
And at our stamp here o’er and o’er one falls.
He ’Murder’ cries, and help from Athens calls.
Their sense thus weak, lost with their fears thus
strong,
Made senseless things begin to do them wrong.
For briers and thorns at their apparel snatch;
Some sleeves, some hats—from yielders all things catch.
I led them on in this distracted fear,
And left sweet Pyramus translated there;
When in that moment, so it came to pass,
Titania waked and straightway loved an ass.
My mistress with a monster is in love.
Near to her close and consecrated bower
While she was in her dull and sleeping hour
A crew of patches, rude mechanicals
That work for bread upon Athenian stalls,
Were met together to rehearse a play
Intended for great Theseus’ nuptial day.
The shallowest thickskin of that barren sort,
Who Pyramus presented, in their sport
Forsook his scene and entered in a brake,
When I did him at this advantage take.
An ass’s nole I fixèd on his head
.
Anon his Thisbe must be answered,
And forth my mimic comes. When they him spy—
As wild geese that the creeping fowler eye,
Or russet-pated choughs, many in sort,
Rising and cawing at the gun’s report,
Sever themselves and madly sweep the sky—
So, at his sight, away his fellows fly,
And at our stamp here o’er and o’er one falls.
He ’Murder’ cries, and help from Athens calls.
Their sense thus weak, lost with their fears thus
strong,
Made senseless things begin to do them wrong.
For briers and thorns at their apparel snatch;
Some sleeves, some hats—from yielders all things catch.
I led them on in this distracted fear,
And left sweet Pyramus translated there;
When in that moment, so it came to pass,
Titania waked and straightway loved an ass.
OBERON
This falls out better than I could devise.
But hast thou yet latched the Athenian’s eyes
With the love juice, as I did bid thee do?
But hast thou yet latched the Athenian’s eyes
With the love juice, as I did bid thee do?
ROBIN
I took him sleeping; that is finished, too;
And the Athenian woman by his side,
That when he waked of force she must be eyed.
And the Athenian woman by his side,
That when he waked of force she must be eyed.
Enter Demetrius and Hermia
OBERON
Stand close. This is the same Athenian.
ROBIN
This is the woman, but not this the man.
⌈
They stand apart
⌉
DEMETRIUS
O, why rebuke you him that loves you so?
Lay breath so bitter on your bitter foe.
Lay breath so bitter on your bitter foe.
HERMIA
Now I but chide, but I should use thee worse;
For thou, I fear, hast given me cause to curse.
If thou hast slain Lysander in his sleep,
Being o‘er shoes in blood, plunge in the deep,
And kill me too.
The sun was not so true unto the day
As he to me. Would he have stolen away
From sleeping Hermia? I’ll believe as soon
This whole earth may be bored, and that the moon
May through the centre creep, and so displease
Her brother’s noontide with th’Antipodes.
It cannot be but thou hast murdered him.
So should a murderer look—so dead, so grim.
For thou, I fear, hast given me cause to curse.
If thou hast slain Lysander in his sleep,
Being o‘er shoes in blood, plunge in the deep,
And kill me too.
The sun was not so true unto the day
As he to me. Would he have stolen away
From sleeping Hermia? I’ll believe as soon
This whole earth may be bored, and that the moon
May through the centre creep, and so displease
Her brother’s noontide with th’Antipodes.
It cannot be but thou hast murdered him.
So should a murderer look—so dead, so grim.
DEMETRIUS
So should the murdered look, and so should I,
Pierced through the heart with your stern cruelty.
Yet you, the murderer, look as bright, as clear
As yonder Venus in her glimmering sphere.
Pierced through the heart with your stern cruelty.
Yet you, the murderer, look as bright, as clear
As yonder Venus in her glimmering sphere.
HERMIA
What’s this to my Lysander? Where is he?
Ah, good Demetrius, wilt thou give him me?
Ah, good Demetrius, wilt thou give him me?
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