A Midsummer Night's Dream: Act 3, Scene 2
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2. next: nearest, i.e., first. 3. in extremity: to the utmost degree.
5. night-rule: diversion for the night, night activity, night sport. haunted: much frequented.
Enter King of Fairies [OBERON].
OBERON
1 I wonder if Titania be awaked;
2 Then, what it was that next came in her eye,
3 Which she must dote on in extremity.
[Enter PUCK.]
4 Here comes my messenger. How now, mad spirit!
5 What night-rule now about this haunted grove?
PUCK
6 My mistress with a monster is in love.
7. close: secret.
7 Near to her close and consecrated bower,
8. dull: drowsy.
8 While she was in her dull and sleeping hour,
9. patches: clowns, fools. rude mechanicals: ignorant working men. 10. stalls: street or market booths where wares were sold.
9 A crew of patches, rude mechanicals,
10 That work for bread upon Athenian stalls,
11 Were met together to rehearse a play
12. Theseus' nuptial-day: Theseus' wedding day
12 Intended for great Theseus' nuptial-day.
13. thick-skin: blockhead. barren sort: stupid company or crew. 14. presented: acted.
13 The shallowest thick-skin of that barren sort,
14 Who Pyramus presented, in their sport
15. scene: playing place. brake: thicket.
15 Forsook his scene and enter'd in a brake
16 When I did him at this advantage take,
17. nole: noddle, head.
17 An ass's nole I fixed on his head:
18. anon: at once
18 Anon his Thisby must be answered,
19. mimic: burlesque actor.
19 And forth my mimic comes. When they him spy,
20. fowler: hunter of birds
20 As wild geese that the creeping fowler eye,
21. russet-pated choughs: grey-headed jackdaws. in sort: in company, in a flock, together.
21 Or russet-pated choughs, many in sort,
22 Rising and cawing at the gun's report,
23. Sever: i.e., Scatter.
23 Sever themselves and madly sweep the sky,
24 So, at his sight, away his fellows fly;
25. at our stamp: Puck's use of our instead of my has puzzled editors, as has a fairy's stamp . . . more 26. calls: calls for.
25 And, at our stamp, here o'er and o'er one falls;
26 He murder cries and help from Athens calls.
27 Their sense thus weak, lost with their fears thus strong,
28 Made senseless things begin to do them wrong;
29 For briers and thorns at their apparel snatch;
30 Some sleeves, some hats, from yielders all things catch.
31 I led them on in this distracted fear,
32. translated: transformed.
32 And left sweet Pyramus translated there:
33 When in that moment, so it came to pass,
34. ass: donkey.
34 Titania waked and straightway loved an ass.
OBERON
35. devise: make up.
35 This falls out better than I could devise.
36. latch'd: anointed.
36 But hast thou yet latch'd the Athenian's eyes
37 With the love-juice, as I did bid thee do?
PUCK
38 I took him sleeping,—that is finish'd too,—
39 And the Athenian woman by his side:
40. of force: perforce, necessarily.
40 That, when he waked, of force she must be eyed.
Enter DEMETRIUS and HERMIA.
OBERON
41 Stand close: this is the same Athenian.
PUCK
42 This is the woman, but not this the man.
DEMETRIUS
43 O, why rebuke you him that loves you so?
44 Lay breath so bitter on your bitter foe.
HERMIA
45 Now I but chide; but I should use thee worse,
46 For thou, I fear, hast given me cause to curse,
47 If thou hast slain Lysander in his sleep,
48 Being o'er shoes in blood, plunge in the deep,
49 And kill me too.
50 The sun was not so true unto the day
51 As he to me: would he have stolen away
52 From sleeping Hermia? I'll believe as soon
53. whole: solid. be bor'd: have a hole bored through it.
53 This whole earth may be bor'd and that the moon
54-55. so displease / Her brother's noontide: so displease the inhabitants of the Antipodes (on the other side of the earth) by displacing the noontide sun with the darkness of night. 57. dead: deathly pale.
54 May through the centre creep and so displease
55 Her brother's noontide with th' Antipodes.
56 It cannot be but thou hast murder'd him;
57 So should a murderer look, so dead, so grim.
DEMETRIUS
58 So should the murder'd look, and so should I,
59 Pierced through the heart with your stern cruelty:
60. clear: shining.
60 Yet you, the murderer, look as bright, as clear,
61. sphere: orbit.
61 As yonder Venus in her glimmering sphere.
HERMIA
62. What's this to: what has all this to do with.
62 What's this to my Lysander? where is he?
63 Ah, good Demetrius, wilt thou give him me?
DEMETRIUS
64 I had rather give his carcass to my hounds.
HERMIA
65 Out, dog! out, cur! thou drivest me past the bounds
66 Of maiden's patience. Hast thou slain him, then?
67 Henceforth be never number'd among men!
68 O, once tell true, tell true, even for my sake!
69 Durst thou have look'd upon him being awake,
70. brave touch: noble exploit. (Said ironically).
70 And hast thou kill'd him sleeping? O brave touch!
71. worm: snake, serpent.
71 Could not a worm, an adder, do so much?
72. An adder did it: Hermia is calling Demetrius a snake and a murderer.
72 An adder did it; for with doubler tongue
73 Than thine, thou serpent, never adder stung.
DEMETRIUS
74. passion on a misprised mood: passionate outburst in misconceived anger.
74 You spend your passion on a misprised mood:
75 I am not guilty of Lysander's blood;
76 Nor is he dead, for aught that I can tell.
HERMIA
77 I pray thee, tell me then that he is well.
DEMETRIUS
78 An if I could, what should I get therefore?
HERMIA
79 A privilege never to see me more.
80 And from thy hated presence part I so:
81 See me no more, whether he be dead or no.
Exit.
DEMETRIUS
82 There is no following her in this fierce vein:
83 Here therefore for a while I will remain.
84. heavier: harder to bear (with play on the sense "drowsier"). 85. bankrupt: Demetrius is saying that his sleepiness adds to the weariness caused by sorrow. 86-87. Which . . . stay: i.e., I will be able to "pay back" . . . more
84 So sorrow's heaviness doth heavier grow
85 For debt that bankrupt sleep doth sorrow owe:
86 Which now in some slight measure it will pay,
87 If for his tender here I make some stay.
Lie down [and sleep].
OBERON
88 What hast thou done? thou hast mistaken quite
89 And laid the love-juice on some true-love's sight:
90. misprision must perforce ensue: mistake must necessarily follow.
90 Of thy misprision must perforce ensue
91 Some true love turn'd and not a false turn'd true.
PUCK
92. troth: faith.
92 Then fate o'er-rules, that, one man holding troth,
93. A million fail, confounding oath an oath: Among the millions of faithless men, the one true man's oath is subverted by fate.
93 A million fail, confounding oath on oath.
OBERON
94 About the wood go swifter than the wind,
95 And Helena of Athens look thou find:
96. fancy-sick: lovesick. cheer: face.
96 All fancy-sick she is and pale of cheer,
97. With sighs of love, that costs the fresh blood dear: Each sigh was thought to draw a drop of blood from the heart. 99. against she do appear: in preparation for her arrival.
97 With sighs of love, that costs the fresh blood dear:
98 By some illusion see thou bring her here:
99 I'll charm his eyes against she do appear.
PUCK
100 I go, I go; look how I go,
101. arrow from the Tartar's bow: Proverbial for swiftness because Tartars (central Asian peoples) were famed for their skill with the bow.
101 Swifter than arrow from the Tartar's bow.
[Exit.]
OBERON
102 Flower of this purple dye,
103 Hit with Cupid's archery,
104. apple: pupil.
104 Sink in apple of his eye.
105 When his love he doth espy,
106 Let her shine as gloriously
107 As the Venus of the sky.
108 When thou wakest, if she be by,
109 Beg of her for remedy.
Enter PUCK.
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113. fee: right, privilege. 114. fond pageant: foolish show.
119. alone: unparalleled. 121. prepost'rously: out of the natural order.
PUCK
110 Captain of our fairy band,
111 Helena is here at hand;
112 And the youth, mistook by me,
113 Pleading for a lover's fee.
114 Shall we their fond pageant see?
115 Lord, what fools these mortals be!
OBERON
116 Stand aside: the noise they make
117 Will cause Demetrius to awake.
PUCK
118 Then will two at once woo one;
119 That must needs be sport alone;
120 And those things do best please me
121 That befall prepost'rously.
Enter LYSANDER and HELENA.
LYSANDER
122 Why should you think that I should woo in scorn?
123 Scorn and derision never come in tears:
124-125. vows so born, / In their nativity all truth appears: i.e., when vows are so born (made by someone who is weeping), the nature of their birth makes their sincerity credible. 127. badge: identifying mark (like the family crest or other device worn on livery to identify a gentleman's retainers).
124 Look, when I vow, I weep; and vows so born,
125 In their nativity all truth appears.
126 How can these things in me seem scorn to you,
127 Bearing the badge of faith, to prove them true?
HELENA
128. advance: carry forward, hold high, i.e., display. 129. fray: assault; attack.
128 You do advance your cunning more and more.
129 When truth kills truth, O devilish-holy fray!
130. give her o'er: give her up.
130 These vows are Hermia's: will you give her o'er?
131 Weigh oath with oath, and you will nothing weigh:
132 Your vows to her and me, put in two scales,
133. tales: lies.
133 Will even weigh, and both as light as tales.
LYSANDER
134 I had no judgment when to her I swore.
HELENA
135. give her o'er: give her up.
135 Nor none, in my mind, now you give her o'er.
LYSANDER
136 Demetrius loves her, and he loves not you.
DEMETRIUS [Awaking.]
137 O Helena, goddess, nymph, perfect, divine!
138. thine eyne: your eyes.
138 To what, my love, shall I compare thine eyne?
139. Crystal is muddy. O, how ripe in show: Demetrius says clear crystal is murky compared to the fully ripened appearance of Helena's lips. 141. Taurus: a lofty mountain range in Asiatic Turkey. 142. turns to a crow: i.e., seems black in comparison.
139 Crystal is muddy. O, how ripe in show
140 Thy lips, those kissing cherries, tempting grow!
141 That pure congealed white, high Taurus snow,
142 Fann'd with the eastern wind, turns to a crow
143 When thou hold'st up thy hand: O, let me kiss
144. seal: pledge.
144 This princess of pure white, this seal of bliss!
HELENA
145 O spite! O hell! I see you all are bent
146 To set against me for your merriment:
147 If you we re civil and knew courtesy,
148 You would not do me thus much injury.
149 Can you not hate me, as I know you do,
150 But you must join in souls to mock me too?
151. show: appearance.
151 If you were men, as men you are in show,
152 You would not use a gentle lady so;
153. superpraise: overpraise. parts: qualities.
153 To vow, and swear, and superpraise my parts,
154 When I am sure you hate me with your hearts.
155 You both are rivals, and love Hermia;
156 And now both rivals, to mock Helena:
157. trim: pretty, fine (said ironically).
157 A trim exploit, a manly enterprise,
158 To conjure tears up in a poor maid's eyes
159 With your derision! none of noble sort
160. extort: wring, twist, torture.
160 Would so offend a virgin, and extort
161 A poor soul's patience, all to make you sport.
LYSANDER
162 You are unkind, Demetrius; be not so;
163 For you love Hermia; this you know I know:
164 And here, with all good will, with all my heart,
165 In Hermia's love I yield you up my part;
166 And yours of Helena to me bequeath,
167 Whom I do love and will do till my death.
HELENA
168 Never did mockers waste more idle breath.
DEMETRIUS
169. I will none: i.e., I will have nothing to do with her.
169 Lysander, keep thy Hermia; I will none:
170 If e'er I loved her, all that love is gone.
171. as guest-wise sojourn'd: as a guest, I stayed temporarily.
171 My heart to her but as guest-wise sojourn'd,
172 And now to Helen is it home return'd,
173 There to remain.
LYSANDER
173 Helen, it is not so.
DEMETRIUS
174 Disparage not the faith thou dost not know,
175. aby: pay for, atone for.
175 Lest, to thy peril, thou aby it dear.
176 Look, where thy love comes; yonder is thy dear.
Enter HERMIA.
HERMIA
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177 Dark night, that from the eye his function takes,
178 The ear more quick of apprehension makes;
179 Wherein it doth impair the seeing sense,
180 It pays the hearing double recompense.
181 Thou art not by mine eye, Lysander, found;
182 Mine ear, I thank it, brought me to thy sound
183 But why unkindly didst thou leave me so?
LYSANDER
184 Why should he stay, whom love doth press to go?
HERMIA
185 What love could press Lysander from my side?
LYSANDER
186 Lysander's love, that would not let him bide,
187. engilds the night: brightens the night with golden light. 188. oes: circles, orbs, i.e., stars.
187 Fair Helena, who more engilds the night
188 Than all you fiery oes and eyes of light.
189 Why seek'st thou me? could not this make thee know,
190 The hate I bear thee made me leave thee so?
HERMIA
191 You speak not as you think: it cannot be.
HELENA
192 Lo, she is one of this confederacy!
193 Now I perceive they have conjoin'd all three
194. in spite of me: to vex me.
194 To fashion this false sport, in spite of me.
195. Injurious: Insulting.
195 Injurious Hermia! most ungrateful maid!
196. contriv'd: plotted.
196 Have you conspired, have you with these contriv'd
197. bait: torment, as one sets on dogs to bait a bear.
198. counsel: private thoughts, confidential talk.
203. artificial: skilled in art, able to create.
208. incorporate: in one body united. 209. seeming: apparently.
211. lovely: loving.
213-214. Two of the first, like coats in heraldry, / Due but to one and crowned with one crest: "we had two . . . more 215. rent: rend.
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203. artificial: skilled in art, able to create.
208. incorporate: in one body united. 209. seeming: apparently.
211. lovely: loving.
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197 To bait me with this foul derision?
198 Is all the counsel that we two have shared,
199 The sisters' vows, the hours that we have spent,
200 When we have chid the hasty-footed time
201 For parting us,—O, is it all forgot?
202 All school-days' friendship, childhood innocence?
203 We, Hermia, like two artificial gods,
204 Have with our needles created both one flower,
205 Both on one sampler, sitting on one cushion,
206 Both warbling of one song, both in one key,
207 As if our hands, our sides, voices and minds,
208 Had been incorporate. So we grow together,
209 Like to a double cherry, seeming parted,
210 But yet an union in partition;
211 Two lovely berries moulded on one stem;
212 So, with two seeming bodies, but one heart;
213 Two of the first, like coats in heraldry,
214 Due but to one and crowned with one crest.
215 And will you rent our ancient love asunder,
216 To join with men in scorning your poor friend?
217 It is not friendly, 'tis not maidenly:
218 Our sex, as well as I, may chide you for it,
219 Though I alone do feel the injury.
HERMIA
220. amazed: utterly bewildered.
220 I am amazed at your passionate words.
221 I scorn you not: it seems that you scorn me.
HELENA
222 Have you not set Lysander, as in scorn,
223 To follow me and praise my eyes and face?
224 And made your other love, Demetrius,
225. even but now: just now.
225 Who even but now did spurn me with his foot,
226 To call me goddess, nymph, divine and rare,
227 Precious, celestial? Wherefore speaks he this
228 To her he hates? and wherefore doth Lysander
229. your love: his love of you.
229 Deny your love, so rich within his soul,
230. tender me, forsooth: offer me, truly.
230 And tender me, forsooth, affection,
231. setting on: continuing.
231 But by your setting on, by your consent?
232. in grace: in favor; favored.
232 What though I be not so in grace as you,
233 So hung upon with love, so fortunate,
234. to love unloved: i.e., to suffer unrequited love.
234 But miserable most, to love unloved?
235 This you should pity rather than despise.
HERMIA
236 I understand not what you mean by this.
HELENA
237. Ay . . . looks: Yes, do continue faking serious, grave looks. 238. make mouths: make faces (mouths is a common corruption of mows, "grimaces"). upon: at. 239. hold the sweet jest up: carry the sweet jest on. 240. carried: managed.
237 Ay, do, persever, counterfeit sad looks,
238 Make mouths upon me when I turn my back;
239 Wink each at other; hold the sweet jest up:
240 This sport, well carried, shall be chronicled.
241 If you have any pity, grace, or manners,
242. argument: subject matter (for jesting).
242 You would not make me such an argument.
243 But fare ye well: 'tis partly my own fault;
244 Which death or absence soon shall remedy.
LYSANDER
245 Stay, gentle Helena; hear my excuse:
246 My love, my life my soul, fair Helena!
HELENA
247 O excellent!
HERMIA
247 Sweet, do not scorn her so.
DEMETRIUS
248. If she cannot entreat, I can compel: i.e., if Hermia cannot influence you by pleas, I can do so by force.
248 If she cannot entreat, I can compel.
LYSANDER
249 Thou canst compel no more than she entreat:
250 Thy threats have no more strength than her weak prayers.
251 Helen, I love thee; by my life, I do:
252 I swear by that which I will lose for thee,
253 To prove him false that says I love thee not.
DEMETRIUS
254 I say I love thee more than he can do.
LYSANDER
255 If thou say so, withdraw, and prove it too.
DEMETRIUS
256 Quick, come!
HERMIA
256 Lysander, whereto tends all this?
LYSANDER
257. Ethiope: blackamoor. Hermia is a brunette and has a dark complexion; see also Lysander's use of tawny Tartar in Line 263.
257 Away, you Ethiope!
DEMETRIUS
257 No, no; he'll
258 Seem to break loose; take on as you would follow,
259 But yet come not: you are a tame man, go!
LYSANDER
260 Hang off, thou cat, thou burr! vile thing, let loose,
261 Or I will shake thee from me like a serpent!
HERMIA
262 Why are you grown so rude? what change is this?
263 Sweet love?
LYSANDER
263. tawny Tartar: brownish central Asian peoples.
263 Thy love! out, tawny Tartar, out!
264. med'cine: i.e., poison.
264 Out, loathed med'cine! hated potion, hence!
HERMIA
265 Do you not jest?
HELENA
265. sooth: truly.
265 Yes, sooth; and so do you.
LYSANDER
266 Demetrius, I will keep my word with thee.
DEMETRIUS
267 I would I had your bond, for I perceive
268. weak bond: i.e., Hermia's arms. Demetrius implies that Lysander is not trying very hard to break away from her (with a pun on bond, oath, in the previous line).
268 A weak bond holds you: I'll not trust your word.
LYSANDER
269 What, should I hurt her, strike her, kill her dead?
270 Although I hate her, I'll not harm her so.
HERMIA
271 What, can you do me greater harm than hate?
272. what news: what is the matter.
272 Hate me! wherefore? O me! what news, my love!
273 Am not I Hermia? are not you Lysander?
274. erewhile: just now.
274 I am as fair now as I was erewhile.
275. Since night: i.e., last night.
275 Since night you loved me; yet since night you left me:
276 Why, then you left me—O, the gods forbid!—
277 In earnest, shall I say?
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282. you canker-blossom: you worm-eaten blossom.
LYSANDER
277 Ay, by my life;
278 And never did desire to see thee more.
279 Therefore be out of hope, of question, of doubt;
280 Be certain, nothing truer; 'tis no jest
281 That I do hate thee and love Helena.
HERMIA
282 O me! you juggler! you canker-blossom!
283 You thief of love! what, have you come by night
284 And stolen my love's heart from him?
HELENA
284 Fine, i'faith!
285 Have you no modesty, no maiden shame,
286 No touch of bashfulness? What, will you tear
287 Impatient answers from my gentle tongue?
288. puppet: i.e., counterfeit, a fake doll instead of a woman, but Hermia takes it as a reference to her small stature. (cf. the preceding use of counterfeit "counterfeit sad looks")
288 Fie, fie! you counterfeit, you puppet, you!
HERMIA
289 Puppet? why so? ay, that way goes the game.
290 Now I perceive that she hath made compare
291 Between our statures; she hath urged her height;
292. personage: figure.
292 And with her personage, her tall personage,
293 Her height, forsooth, she hath prevail'd with him.
294 And are you grown so high in his esteem;
295. low: short.
295 Because I am so dwarfish and so low?
296 How low am I, thou painted maypole? speak;
297 How low am I? I am not yet so low
298 But that my nails can reach unto thine eyes.
HELENA
299 I pray you, though you mock me, gentlemen,
300. curst: shrewish, sharp-tongued.
300 Let her not hurt me: I was never curst;
301. shrewishness: ill-natured, ill-tempered; of a sharp or cross-grained nature. 302. right: real, true. for: with respect to.
301 I have no gift at all in shrewishness;
302 I am a right maid for my cowardice:
303 Let her not strike me. You perhaps may think,
304. something lower: somewhat shorter.
304 Because she is something lower than myself,
305. match: be a match for.
305 That I can match her.
HERMIA
305 "Lower"? hark, again.
HELENA
306 Good Hermia, do not be so bitter with me.
307. evermore: at all times.
307 I evermore did love you, Hermia,
308. counsels: secrets.
308 Did ever keep your counsels, never wrong'd you;
309 Save that, in love unto Demetrius,
310. stealth: stealing away.
310 I told him of your stealth unto this wood.
311 He follow'd you; for love I follow'd him;
312 But he hath chid me hence and threaten'd me
313 To strike me, spurn me, nay, to kill me too:
314. so: if only.
314 And now, so you will let me quiet go,
315 To Athens will I bear my folly back
316 And follow you no further: let me go:
317. fond: foolish.
317 You see how simple and how fond I am.
HERMIA
318 Why, get you gone: who is't that hinders you?
HELENA
319 A foolish heart, that I leave here behind.
HERMIA
320 What, with Lysander?
HELENA
320 With Demetrius.
LYSANDER
321 Be not afraid; she shall not harm thee, Helena.
DEMETRIUS
322 No, sir, she shall not, though you take her part.
HELENA
323. keen and shrewd: clever and shrewish, sharp-tongued (synonymous with curst in line 300).
324. vixen: shrew (literally, she-fox).
327. flout: mock.
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327. flout: mock.
323 O, when she's angry, she is keen and shrewd!
324 She was a vixen when she went to school;
325 And though she be but little, she is fierce.
HERMIA
326 "Little" again! nothing but "low" and "little"!
327 Why will you suffer her to flout me thus?
328 Let me come to her.
LYSANDER
328 Get you gone, you dwarf;
329. minimus: diminutive creature. knot-grass: a weed that was thought to stunt the growth of animals or children.
329 You minimus, of hindering knot-grass made;
330 You bead, you acorn.
DEMETRIUS
330. officious: ready to do kind offices; eager to serve, help, or please.
330 You are too officious
331 In her behalf that scorns your services.
332 Let her alone: speak not of Helena;
333. intend: give sign of, offer; or, possibly, pretend.
333 Take not her part; for, if thou dost intend
334 Never so little show of love to her,
335. aby: pay for.
335 Thou shalt aby it.
LYSANDER
335 Now she holds me not;
336 Now follow, if thou darest, to try whose right,
337 Of thine or mine, is most in Helena.
DEMETRIUS
338. cheek by jowl: side by side.
338 Follow! nay, I'll go with thee, cheek by jowl.
[Exeunt LYSANDER and DEMETRIUS.]
HERMIA
339. coil: turmoil, dissension, uproar. 'long of: on account of, because of. 340. go not back: i.e., don't retreat. (Hermia is again proposing a fight).
339 You, mistress, all this coil is 'long of you:
340 Nay, go not back.
HELENA
340 I will not trust you, I,
341. curst: damnable.
341 Nor longer stay in your curst company.
342. quicker for a fray: more ready to fight.
342 Your hands than mine are quicker for a fray,
343 My legs are longer though, to run away.
[Exit.]
HERMIA
344 I am amazed, and know not what to say.
Exit.
OBERON
345. still thou mistakest: you continually make mistakes. 346. knaveries: dishonest or crafty behaviour; unscrupulousness; trickery. wilfully: on purpose.
345 This is thy negligence: still thou mistakest,
346 Or else committ'st thy knaveries wilfully.
PUCK
347. I mistook: i.e., it was a mistake.
347 Believe me, king of shadows, I mistook.
348 Did not you tell me I should know the man
349 By the Athenian garment be had on?
350. so far: to this extent. enterprise: undertaking.
350 And so far blameless proves my enterprise,
351 That I have 'nointed an Athenian's eyes;
352. sort: turn out.
352 And so far am I glad it so did sort
353. As: that. jangling: disputing, wrangling.
353 As this their jangling I esteem a sport.
OBERON
354 Thou see'st these lovers seek a place to fight:
355. Hie: Hasten.
355 Hie therefore, Robin, overcast the night;
356. welkin: sky.
356 The starry welkin cover thou anon
357. Acheron: a river of Hades; here, Hades itself.
357 With drooping fog as black as Acheron,
358. testy: agressive; rash.
358 And lead these testy rivals so astray
359. As: That
359 As one come not within another's way.
360. frame: shape; compose.
360 Like to Lysander sometime frame thy tongue,
361 Then stir Demetrius up with bitter wrong;
362. rail: protest; complain.
362 And sometime rail thou like Demetrius;
363 And from each other look thou lead them thus,
364 Till o'er their brows death-counterfeiting sleep
365. batty: batlike.
365 With leaden legs and batty wings doth creep:
366. this herb: i.e., the herb that Oberon has mentioned (II.i.184) as the antidote to love-in-idleness. 367. virtuous: efficacious, powerful. 368. with his might: by its efficacy. 369. wonted: accustomed.
366 Then crush this herb into Lysander's eye;
367 Whose liquor hath this virtuous property,
368 To take from thence all error with his might,
369 And make his eyeballs roll with wonted sight.
370. derision: laughable mockery.
370 When they next wake, all this derision
371. fruitless: having no effect, inconsequential.
371 Shall seem a dream and fruitless vision,
372 And back to Athens shall the lovers wend,
373. league: covenant. date: term of existence, duration.
373 With league whose date till death shall never end.
374 Whiles I in this affair do thee employ,
375 I'll to my queen and beg her Indian boy;
376 And then I will her charmed eye release
377 From monster's view, and all things shall be peace.
PUCK
378 My fairy lord, this must be done with haste,
379. dragons: i.e., those that were supposed to draw the chariot of the goddess of night. full: very. 380. Aurora's harbinger: the precursor of dawn. i.e., the morning star.
379 For night's swift dragons cut the clouds full fast,
380 And yonder shines Aurora's harbinger;
381 At whose approach, ghosts, wandering here and there,
382-383. damned spirits all, / That in crossways and floods have burial: Suicides were commonly buried at crossroads; to these Puck adds those who have drowned themselves and whose bodies have not been recovered who would be condemned to wander disconsolate for want of burial rites. 387. for aye: forever.
389. the Morning's love: Cephalus, lover of Aurora . . . more 390. like: in the guise of. forester: keeper of a royal forest or hunting preserve. 392. Neptune: god of the sea.
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389. the Morning's love: Cephalus, lover of Aurora . . . more 390. like: in the guise of. forester: keeper of a royal forest or hunting preserve. 392. Neptune: god of the sea.
382 Troop home to churchyards: damned spirits all,
383 That in crossways and floods have burial,
384 Already to their wormy beds are gone;
385 For fear lest day should look their shames upon,
386 They willfully themselves exile from light
387 And must for aye consort with black-brow'd night.
OBERON
388 But we are spirits of another sort:
389 I with the morning's love have oft made sport,
390 And, like a forester, the groves may tread,
391 Even till the eastern gate, all fiery-red,
392 Opening on Neptune with fair blessed beams,
393 Turns into yellow gold his salt green streams.
394 But, notwithstanding, haste; make no delay:
395 We may effect this business yet ere day.
[Exit.]
PUCK
396 Up and down, up and down,
397 I will lead them up and down:
398 I am fear'd in field and town:
399 Goblin, lead them up and down.
400 Here comes one.
Enter LYSANDER.
LYSANDER
401 Where art thou, proud Demetrius? speak thou now.
PUCK
402. drawn: with drawn sword.
402 Here, villain; drawn and ready. Where art thou?
LYSANDER
403. straight: immediately, straightway.
403 I will be with thee straight.
PUCK
403 Follow me, then,
404. plainer: smoother, more level.
404 To plainer ground.
[Exit LYSANDER, as following the voice.]
Enter DEMETRIUS.
DEMETRIUS
404 Lysander! speak again:
405 Thou runaway, thou coward, art thou fled?
406 Speak! In some bush? Where dost thou hide thy head?
PUCK
407 Thou coward, art thou bragging to the stars,
408 Telling the bushes that thou look'st for wars,
409. recreant: cowardly wretch.
409 And wilt not come? Come, recreant; come, thou child;
410 I'll whip thee with a rod: he is defiled
411 That draws a sword on thee.
DEMETRIUS
411 Yea, art thou there?
PUCK
412. try: test.
412 Follow my voice: we'll try no manhood here.
Exeunt.
[Enter LYSANDER.]
LYSANDER
413 He goes before me and still dares me on:
414 When I come where he calls, then he is gone.
415 The villain is much lighter-heel'd than I:
416 I follow'd fast, but faster he did fly;
417. uneven: rough.
417 That fallen am I in dark uneven way,
418 And here will rest me.
[Lies down.]
418 Come, thou gentle day!
419 For if but once thou show me thy grey light,
420 I'll find Demetrius and revenge this spite.
[Sleeps.]
[Enter] ROBIN [PUCK] and DEMETRIUS.
PUCK
421 Ho, ho, ho! Coward, why comest thou not?
DEMETRIUS
422. Abide me: face me in fight. wot: know.
422 Abide me, if thou darest; for well I wot
423 Thou runn'st before me, shifting every place,
424 And darest not stand, nor look me in the face.
425 Where art thou now?
PUCK
425 Come hither: I am here.
DEMETRIUS
426. buy: aby, pay for. dear: dearly.
426 Nay, then, thou mock'st me. Thou shalt buy this dear,
427 If ever I thy face by daylight see:
428 Now, go thy way. Faintness constraineth me
429. measure out my length: i.e., stretch out.
429 To measure out my length on this cold bed.
430 By day's approach look to be visited.
[Lies down and sleeps.]
Enter HELENA.
HELENA
431 O weary night, O long and tedious night,
432. Abate: lessen, shorten.
432 Abate thy hour! Shine comforts from the east,
433 That I may back to Athens by daylight,
434 From these that my poor company detest:
435 And sleep, that sometimes shuts up sorrow's eye,
436 Steal me awhile from mine own company.
Sleep.
PUCK
437 Yet but three? Come one more;
438 Two of both kinds make up four.
[Enter HERMIA.]
439. curst: ill-tempered.
439 Here she comes, curst and sad:
440. Cupid is a knavish lad: knavish has two connotations: (dishonest, unprincipled; unscrupulous, villainous) or (mischievous, waggish; roguish).
440 Cupid is a knavish lad,
441 Thus to make poor females mad.
HERMIA
442 Never so weary, never so in woe,
443 Bedabbled with the dew and torn with briers,
444. go: walk.
444 I can no further crawl, no further go;
445 My legs can keep no pace with my desires.
446 Here will I rest me till the break of day.
447. a fray: i.e., to fight.
447 Heavens shield Lysander, if they mean a fray!
[Lies down and sleeps.]
PUCK
448 On the ground
449 Sleep sound:
450 I'll apply
451 To your eye,
452 Gentle lover, remedy.
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[Squeezing the juice on LYSANDER's eyes.]
453 When thou wakest,
454 Thou takest
455 True delight
456 In the sight
457 Of thy former lady's eye:
458 And the country proverb known,
459 That every man should take his own,
460 In your waking shall be shown:
461 Jack shall have Jill;
462 Nought shall go ill;
463 The man shall have his mare again, and all shall be well.
Exit.