A Midsummer Night's Dream: Act 4, Scene 1
|
2. amiable cheeks do coy: lovely cheeks do caress.
Enter Queen of Fairies [TITANIA] and Clown [BOTTOM],
and Fairies [PEASEBLOSSOM, COBWEB, MOTH,
MUSTARDSEED, and other Fairies attending]; and the King
[OBERON] behind them [unseen].
TITANIA
1 Come, sit thee down upon this flowery bed,
2 While I thy amiable cheeks do coy,
3 And stick musk-roses in thy sleek smooth head,
4 And kiss thy fair large ears, my gentle joy.
BOTTOM
5 Where's Peaseblossom?
PEASEBLOSSOM
6 Ready.
BOTTOM
7 Scratch my head Peaseblossom. Where's
8 Mounsieur Cobweb?
COBWEB
9 Ready.
|
16. overflown with: submerged by.
19. neaf: fist.
20. leave your curtsy: i.e., put on your hat.
BOTTOM
10 Mounsieur Cobweb, good mounsieur, get you your
11 weapons in your hand, and kill me a red-hipped
12 humble-bee on the top of a thistle; and, good
13 mounsieur, bring me the honey-bag. Do not fret
14 yourself too much in the action, mounsieur; and,
15 good mounsieur, have a care the honey-bag break not;
16 I would be loath to have you overflown with a
17 honey-bag, signior. Where's Mounsieur Mustardseed?
MUSTARDSEED
18 Ready.
BOTTOM
19 Give me your neaf, Mounsieur Mustardseed. Pray you,
20 leave your courtesy, good mounsieur.
MUSTARDSEED
21 What's your Will?
BOTTOM
22 Nothing, good mounsieur, but to help
23. Cavalery: cavalier (form of address for a fashionable gentleman). Cobweb Peaseblossom has been asked to do the scratching. This may be Shakespeare's slip or Bottom's.
23 Cavalery Cobweb to scratch. I must to the barber's,
24 monsieur; for methinks I am marvellous hairy
25 about the face; and I am such a tender ass, if my hair
26 do but tickle me, I must scratch.
TITANIA
27 What, wilt thou hear some music, my sweet love?
BOTTOM
28 I have a reasonable good ear in music. Let's have
29. tongs and the bones: rustic musical instruments; the tongs were struck with a key (as a triangle), and the bones were rattled between the fingers (as clappers).
29 the tongs and the bones.
[Music. Tongs. Rural music.]
TITANIA
30 Or say, sweet love, what thou desirest to eat.
BOTTOM
31. provender: fodder.
31 Truly, a peck of provender: I could munch
32 your good dry oats. Methinks I have a great
33. bottle: bundle. —Bottle is an old-fashioned, rural word for "small bundle." Shakespeare's audience might know this, but they would probably laugh at the absurd idea that hay would come in a glass bottle, like ale. 34. fellow: equal.
39. exposition: Bottom's blunder for disposition, i.e., desire, inclination.
41. all ways away: off in all directions.
|
39. exposition: Bottom's blunder for disposition, i.e., desire, inclination.
41. all ways away: off in all directions.
33 desire to a bottle of hay: good hay, sweet hay,
34 hath no fellow.
TITANIA
35 I have a venturous fairy that shall seek
36 The squirrel's hoard, and fetch thee new nuts.
BOTTOM
37 I had rather have a handful or two of dried peas.
38 But, I pray you, let none of your people stir me: I
39 have an exposition of sleep come upon me.
TITANIA
40 Sleep thou, and I will wind thee in my arms.
41 Fairies, begone, and be all ways away.
[Exeunt fairies.]
42 So doth the woodbine the sweet honeysuckle
43 Gently entwist; the female ivy so
44 Enrings the barky fingers of the elm.
45 O, how I love thee! how I dote on thee!
[They sleep.]
Enter ROBIN GOODFELLOW [PUCK].
OBERON [Advancing.]
46 Welcome, good Robin. See'st thou this sweet sight?
47. Her dotage: Titania.
47 Her dotage now I do begin to pity:
48 For, meeting her of late behind the wood,
49. favors: i.e., flowers as love gifts.
49 Seeking sweet favors from this hateful fool,
50. I . . . her: Oberon speaks of what he imagined when he saw Titania with Bottom. 51. rounded: encircled.
53. sometime: formerly.
54. orient pearls: i.e., the most beautiful of pearls. 55. flouriets': flowerets'.
64. scalp: skull.
66. other: others.
68. accidents: events, incidents. 69. fierce: excessive, wild.
|
53. sometime: formerly.
54. orient pearls: i.e., the most beautiful of pearls. 55. flouriets': flowerets'.
64. scalp: skull.
66. other: others.
68. accidents: events, incidents. 69. fierce: excessive, wild.
50 I did upbraid her and fall out with her;
51 For she his hairy temples then had rounded
52 With a coronet of fresh and fragrant flowers;
53 And that same dew, which sometime on the buds
54 Was wont to swell like round and orient pearls,
55 Stood now within the pretty flouriets' eyes
56 Like tears that did their own disgrace bewail.
57 When I had at my pleasure taunted her
58 And she in mild terms begg'd my patience,
59 I then did ask of her her changeling child;
60 Which straight she gave me, and her fairy sent
61 To bear him to my bower in fairy land.
62 And now I have the boy, I will undo
63 This hateful imperfection of her eyes:
64 And, gentle Puck, take this transformed scalp
65 From off the head of this Athenian swain;
66 That, he awaking when the other do,
67 May all to Athens back again repair
68 And think no more of this night's accidents
69 But as the fierce vexation of a dream.
70 But first I will release the fairy queen.
[Squeezes juice in her eyes.]
71 Be as thou wast wont to be;
72 See as thou wast wont to see:
73 Dian's bud o'er Cupid's flower
|
74 Hath such force and blessed power.
75 Now, my Titania; wake you, my sweet queen.
TITANIA
76 My Oberon! what visions have I seen!
77 Methought I was enamour'd of an ass.
OBERON
78 There lies your love.
TITANIA
78 How came these things to pass?
79 O, how mine eyes do loathe his visage now!
OBERON
80 Silence awhile. Robin, take off this head.
81 Titania, music call; and strike more dead
82. these five: i.e., the four lovers and Bottom.
82 Than common sleep of all these five the sense.
TITANIA
83 Music, ho! music, such as charmeth sleep!
[Music, still.] i.e., soft music.
[Music, still.]
PUCK
84 Now, when thou wakest, with thine own fool's eyes peep.
OBERON
85. Sound, music!: Louder, music!.
85 Sound, music! Come, my queen, take hands with me,
86 And rock the ground whereon these sleepers be.
87. new in amity: renewed in "friendship, friendliness; friendly relations; especially of public characters." 88. solemnly: ceremoniously.
87 Now thou and I are new in amity,
88 And will tomorrow midnight solemnly
89 Dance in Duke Theseus' house triumphantly,
90 And bless it to all fair prosperity:
91 There shall the pairs of faithful lovers be
92 Wedded, with Theseus, all in jollity.
PUCK
93. mark: note.
93 Fairy king, attend, and mark:
94 I do hear the morning lark.
OBERON
95. sad: sober; serious.
95 Then, my queen, in silence sad,
96 Trip we after the night's shade:
97. compass: orbit.
97 We the globe can compass soon,
98 Swifter than the wandering moon.
TITANIA
99 Come, my lord, and in our flight
100 Tell me how it came this night
101 That I sleeping here was found
102 With these mortals on the ground.
Wind horn: Blow horn.
Exeunt. Wind horn.
Enter THESEUS, [HIPPOLYTA, EGEUS,]
and all his train.
THESEUS
103. forester: one who looks after the growing timber on an estate. 104. observation: observance, May-day rites (cf. 1.1.l67). 105. vaward: vanguard, early part.
103 Go, one of you, find out the forester;
104 For now our observation is perform'd;
105 And since we have the vaward of the day,
106 My love shall hear the music of my hounds.
107. Uncouple: Release (the dogs grouped in pairs).
107 Uncouple in the western valley; let them go:
108. Dispatch: make haste.
108 Dispatch, I say, and find the forester.
[Exit an Attendant.]
109 We will, fair queen, up to the mountain's top,
110 And mark the musical confusion
111 Of hounds and echo in conjunction.
HIPPOLYTA
112. Cadmus: mythical founder of Thebes (this story about him is unkown). 113. bay'd: brought to bay—trapped with no escape from the hunters. 114. hounds of Sparta: a breed famous in antiquity for their hunting ability. 115. chiding: baying; barking.
120. flew'd: having a fleshy covering of the jaw. sanded: of a sandy color. 122. dewlapp'd: having a hanging flap of skin at the throat. 123-124. match'd . . . each: with voices of varying but harmonious pitch, like a peal of bells. 124. cry: pack of hounds. tuneable: melodious. 127. soft: stop.
|
120. flew'd: having a fleshy covering of the jaw. sanded: of a sandy color. 122. dewlapp'd: having a hanging flap of skin at the throat. 123-124. match'd . . . each: with voices of varying but harmonious pitch, like a peal of bells. 124. cry: pack of hounds. tuneable: melodious. 127. soft: stop.
112 I was with Hercules and Cadmus once,
113 When in a wood of Crete they bay'd the bear
114 With hounds of Sparta: never did I hear
115 Such gallant chiding: for, besides the groves,
116 The skies, the fountains, every region near
117 Seem'd all one mutual cry: I never heard
118 So musical a discord, such sweet thunder.
THESEUS
119 My hounds are bred out of the Spartan kind,
120 So flew'd, so sanded, and their heads are hung
121 With ears that sweep away the morning dew;
122 Crook-knee'd, and dewlapp'd like Thessalian bulls;
123 Slow in pursuit, but match'd in mouth like bells,
124 Each under each. A cry more tuneable
125 Was never holla'd to, nor cheer'd with horn,
126 In Crete, in Sparta, nor in Thessaly:
127 Judge when you hear. But, soft! what nymphs are these?
EGEUS
128. this': this is.
128 My lord, this' my daughter here asleep;
129 And this, Lysander; this Demetrius is;
130 This Helena, old Nedar's Helena:
131 I wonder of their being here together.
THESEUS
132 No doubt they rose up early to observe
133 The rite of May, and hearing our intent,
134. in grace our solemnity: to honor our observance of the same rites of May.
134 Came here in grace our solemnity.
135 But speak, Egeus; is not this the day
136 That Hermia should give answer of her choice?
EGEUS
137 It is, my lord.
THESEUS
138 Go, bid the huntsmen wake them with their horns.
[Exit an Attendant.] Shout within. Wind horns.
They all start up.
139. Saint Valentine: It was supposed that birds chose their mates on St. Valentine's Day.
139 Good morrow, friends. Saint Valentine is past:
140 Begin these wood-birds but to couple now?
LYSANDER
141 Pardon, my lord.
THESEUS
141 I pray you all, stand up.
142 I know you two are rival enemies:
143 How comes this gentle concord in the world,
144. jealousy: suspicion, apprehension of evil.
144 That hatred is so far from jealousy,
145. To sleep by hate: as to sleep side by side wilh a foe.
145 To sleep by hate, and fear no enmity?
LYSANDER
146. amazedly: perplexedly.
146 My lord, I shall reply amazedly,
147 Half sleep, half waking: but as yet, I swear,
148 I cannot truly say how I came here;
149 But, as I think,—for truly would I speak,
150 And now do I bethink me, so it is,—
151 I came with Hermia hither: our intent
152. where we might: wherever we could.
152 Was to be gone from Athens, where we might,
153. Without the peril: beyond the dangerous reach.
153 Without the peril of the Athenian law,—
EGEUS
154 Enough, enough, my lord; you have enough:
155 I beg the law, the law, upon his head.
156 They would have stolen away; they would, Demetrius,
157. defeated: defrauded.
163. fancy: love. 164. wot: know.
167. idle gaud: worthless trinket.
|
163. fancy: love. 164. wot: know.
167. idle gaud: worthless trinket.
157 Thereby to have defeated you and me,
158 You of your wife and me of my consent,
159 Of my consent that she should be your wife.
DEMETRIUS
160 My lord, fair Helen told me of their stealth,
161 Of this their purpose hither to this wood;
162 And I in fury hither follow'd them,
163 Fair Helena in fancy following me.
164 But, my good lord, I wot not by what power,—
165 But by some power it is,—my love to Hermia,
166 Melted as the snow, seems to me now
167 As the remembrance of an idle gaud
168 Which in my childhood I did dote upon;
169 And all the faith, the virtue of my heart,
170 The object and the pleasure of mine eye,
171 Is only Helena. To her, my lord,
172 Was I betroth'd ere I saw Hermia:
173 But, like in sickness, did I loathe this food;
174 But, as in health, come to my natural taste,
175 Now I do wish it, love it, long for it,
176 And will for evermore be true to it.
THESEUS
177 Fair lovers, you are fortunately met:
178. anon: shortly.
178 Of this discourse we more will hear anon.
179 Egeus, I will overbear your will;
180 For in the temple by and by with us
181 These couples shall eternally be knit:
182. for: since. something: somewhat
182 And, for the morning now is something worn,
183 Our purposed hunting shall be set aside.
184 Away with us to Athens; three and three,
185 We'll hold a feast in great solemnity.
186 Come, Hippolyta.
[Exeunt THESEUS, HIPPOLYTA, EGEUS, and train.]
DEMETRIUS
187 These things seem small and undistinguishable,
HERMIA
188. parted: out of focus.
188 Methinks I see these things with parted eye,
189 When every thing seems double.
HELENA
190 So methinks:
191-192. like a jewel, / Mine own, and not mine own: like some precious thing accidently found, so mine on the principle of "finders keepers," but once someone else's.
191 And I have found Demetrius like a jewel,
192 Mine own, and not mine own.
DEMETRIUS
192 Are you sure
193 That we are awake? It seems to me
194 That yet we sleep, we dream. Do not you think
195 The duke was here, and bid us follow him?
HERMIA
196 Yea; and my father.
HELENA
196 And Hippolyta.
LYSANDER
197 And he did bid us follow to the temple.
DEMETRIUS
198 Why, then, we are awake: let's follow him
199 And by the way let us recount our dreams.
[Exeunt.]
BOTTOM [Awaking.]
200 When my cue comes, call
201 me, and I will answer: my next is, "Most fair Pyramus."
202. Heigh-ho: A yawn.
202 Heigh-ho! Peter Quince! Flute, the bellows-mender!
203. God's: God save.
203 Snout, the tinker! Starveling! God's my life,
204 stol'n hence, and left me asleep! I have had a most
205 rare vision. I have had a dream, past the wit of
206 man to say what dream it was: man is but an ass,
207. go about: attempt.
207 if he go about to expound this dream. Methought
208 I was—there is no man can tell what. Methought I
209. patch'd: wearing motley, i.e., a dress of various colors. 210. offer: venture.
209 was,—and methought I had,—but man is but a patch'd
210 fool, if he will offer to say what methought I
211-214. The eye . . . was: A parody of I Corinthians 2:9; "The eye hath not seen, and the ear hath not heard, neither have entered into the heart of man . . . " (Bishops').
211 had. The eye of man hath not heard, the ear of man
212 hath not seen, man's hand is not able to taste, his
213 tongue to conceive, nor his heart to report, what
214 my dream was. I will get Peter Quince to write a
215. ballet: ballad.
215 ballet of this dream: it shall be called Bottom's
216. hath no bottom: i.e., is all tangled up because it lacks a core (bottom).
216 Dream, because it hath no bottom; and I will
217 sing it in the latter end of a play, before the Duke.
218. gracious: attractive, elegant.
218 Peradventure, to make it the more gracious, I shall
219. her: i.e., Thisbe's.
219 sing it at her death.
[Exit.]