Shakespeare's Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare [best fantasy books to read TXT] 📗
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172. Here's much, etc. Romeo means that the fray has much to do with the hate between the rival houses, yet affects him more, inasmuch as his Rosaline is of the Capulet family.
173-178. O brawling love! etc. Cf. iii. 2. 73 fol. below.
187. Rais'd. The reading of the 1st quarto, adopted by the majority of editors. The other early eds. have "made."
188. Purg'd. That is, from smoke.
191. A choking gall, etc. That is, "love kills and keeps alive, is a bane and an antidote" (Dowden).
195. Some other where. Cf. C. of E. iv. 1. 30: "How if your husband start some other where?"
196. Sadness. Seriousness. Cf. A.W. iv. 3. 230: "In good sadness, I do not know," etc. So sadly just below = seriously, as in Much Ado, ii. 3. 229.
203. Mark-man. The 3d and 4th folios have "marks-man." S. uses the word nowhere else.
206. Dian's wit. Her way of thinking, her sentiments. S. has many allusions to Diana's chastity, and also to her connection with the moon.
207. Proof. Used technically of armour. Cf. Rich. II. i. 3. 73: "Add proof unto mine armour with thy prayers;" Ham. ii. 2. 512: "Mars's armour forg'd for proof eterne," etc.
209. The siege, etc. Cf. V. and A. 423:—
See also R. of L. 221, A.W. iii. 7. 18, Cymb. iii. 4. 137, etc.
213. That when she dies, etc. "She is rich in beauty, and only poor in being subject to the lot of humanity, that her store, or riches, can be destroyed by death, who shall, by the same blow, put an end to beauty" (Johnson); or, as Mason puts it, "she is poor because she leaves no part of her store behind her." Her store may mean "beauty's store," as Dowden suggests. Cf. V. and A. 1019: "For he, being dead, with him is beauty slain."
215. In that sparing makes huge waste. Cf. Sonn. 1. 12: "And, tender churl, makes waste in niggarding."
216. Starv'd. The early eds. (except the 4th folio) have "sterv'd," the old form of the word, found in several other passages in the folio (M. of V. iv. 1. 138, Cor. iv. 2. 51, etc.) and rhyming with deserve in Cor. ii. 3. 120. Cf. Spenser, F.Q. iv. 1. 4:—
There it means to die (its original sense), as in Hen. VII. v. 3. 132.
226. To call hers, exquisite. "That is, to call hers, which is exquisite, the more into my remembrance and contemplation" (Heath); or "to make her unparalleled beauty more the subject of thought and conversation" (Malone). For question = conversation, cf. A.Y.L. iii. 4. 39, v. 4. 167, etc. But why may not question repeat the idea of examine? Benvolio says, "Examine other beauties;" Romeo replies, in substance, that the result of the examination will only be to prove her beauty superior to theirs and therefore the more extraordinary.
227. These happy masks. Steevens took this to refer to "the masks worn by female spectators of the play;" but it is probably = the masks worn nowadays. They are called happy as "being privileged to touch the sweet countenances beneath" (Clarke).
229. Strucken. The early eds. have "strucken" or "strooken." S. also uses struck (or strook) and stricken as the participle.
231. Passing. Often used adverbially but only before adjectives and adverbs. Cf. L. L. L. iv. 3. 103, Much Ado, ii. 1. 84, etc.
235. Pay that doctrine. Give that instruction. Cf. L. L. L. iv. 3. 350: "From women's eyes this doctrine I derive;" A. and C. v. 2. 31:—
4. Reckoning. Estimation, reputation.
9. Fourteen years. In Brooke's poem her father says, "Scarce saw she yet full xvi. yeres;" and in Paynter's novel "as yet shee is not attayned to the age of xviii. yeares."
13. Made. The 1st quarto has "maried," which is followed by some editors. The antithesis of make and mar is a very common one in S. Cf. ii. 4. 110 below: "that God hath made for himself to mar." See also L. L. L. iv. 3. 191, M.N.D. i. 2. 39, A.Y.L. i. 1. 34, T. of S. iv. 3. 97, Macb. ii. 3. 36, Oth. v. 1. 4, etc. On the other hand, examples of the opposition of married and marred are not uncommon in Elizabethan writers. Cf. A.W. ii. 3. 315: "A young man married is a man that's marr'd."
14. All my hopes but she. Capulet seems to imply here that he has lost some children; but cf. iii. 5. 163 below.
15. My earth. My world or my life; rather than my lands, my landed property, as some explain it. It was apparently suggested by the earth of the preceding line.
17. My will, etc. My will is subordinate to her consent. The old man talks very differently in iii. 5 below.
25. Dark heaven. The darkness of night. Cf. i. 5. 47 below.
26. Young men. Malone compares Sonn. 98. 2:—
29. Female. The quartos (except the 1st) and 1st folio have the curious misprint "fennell."
30. Inherit. Possess; as in Temp. iv. 1. 154, Rich. II. ii. 1. 83, Cymb. iii. 2. 63, etc.
32. Which on more view, etc. A perplexing line for which many emendations have been suggested. With the reading in the text the meaning seems to be: which one (referring to her of most merit), after your further inspection of the many, my daughter (who is one of the number) may prove to be,—one in number, though one is no number. The quibble at the end alludes to the old proverb that "one is no number." Cf. Sonn. 136. 8: "Among a number one is reckon'd none." Dowden points thus: "Which on more view of, many—mine being one—May," etc., and explains thus: "On more view of whom (that is, the lady of most merit), many (other ladies)—and my daughter among them—may stand in a count of heads, but in estimation (reckoning, with a play on the word) none can hold a place." The general sense of the passage is clear, whatever reading or analysis we adopt. Capulet says in substance: Come to my house to-night, and decide whom you like best of the beauties gathered there; if Juliet be the one, well and good. He has already told Paris that she shall be his if he can gain her love, but discreetly suggests that he look more carefully at the "fresh female buds" of Verona before plucking one to wear on his heart.
36. Written there. Cf. Brooke's poem:—
46. One fire, etc. Alluding to the old proverb that "fire drives out fire." Cf. J.C. iii. 1. 171: "As fire drives out fire, so pity pity;" Cor. iv. 7. 54: "One fire drives out one fire; one nail, one nail," etc.
48. Holp. Used by S. oftener than helped, for both the past tense and the participle.
49. Cures with. Is cured by. S. does not elsewhere use cure intransitively. Languish occurs again as a noun in A. and C. v. 2. 42: "That rids our dogs of languish." On the passage cf. Brooke:—
52. Your plantain-leaf. The common plantain (Plantago major), which still holds a place in the domestic materia medica. For its use in healing bruises, cf. L. L. L. iii. 1. 74:—
Steevens quotes Albumazar: "Bring a fresh plantain leaf, I've broke my shin." A broken shin, like a broken head (M.W. i. 125, T.N. v. 1. 178, etc.) is one that is bruised, so that the blood runs, not one that is fractured. The plantain was supposed to have other virtues. Halliwell-Phillipps quotes Withals, Little Dictionarie for Children, 1586: "The tode being smitten of the spyder in fighte, and made to swell with hir poyson, recovereth himselfe with plantaine."
55. Not mad, but bound, etc. An allusion to the old-time treatment of the insane. Cf. C. of E. iv. 4. 97: "They must be bound and laid in some dark room;" and A.Y.L. iii. 2. 420: "Love is merely a madness, and, I tell you, deserves as well a dark house and a whip as madmen do."
57. Good-den. Printed "godden" and "gooden" in the early eds., and a corruption of good e'en, or good evening. God gi' good-den in the next line is printed "Godgigoden" in the quartos and first three folios, "God gi' Good-e'en" in the 4th folio. This salutation was used as soon as noon was past. See on i. 1. 157 above, and cf. ii. 4. 105 fol. below.
64. Rest you merry! For the full form, God rest you merry! (= God keep you merry), cf. A.Y.L. v. 1. 65, etc. It was a common form of salutation at meeting, and oftener at parting. Here the servant is about to leave, thinking that Romeo is merely jesting with him. Cf. 79 below.
66-69. Signior Martino, etc. Probably meant to be prose, but some editors make bad verse of it.
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