Authors: William Shakespeare
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