Read The Tragedy of Arthur: A Novel Online
Authors: Arthur Phillips
15.
affects
feelings.
16.
Note the short line: a pause of hesitation. [
RV
]
17.
Again, a shortened line. [
RV
]
18.
cockerel
young rooster.
19.
pippin
a variety of apple.
20.
crabs and costards
types of apples.
21.
scruple
iota, jot.
22.
bill of charge
official accusation.
23.
An intriguing puzzle. Alexander Pope writes “Hope springs eternal” in 1733. Might he have read
The Tragedy of Arthur
in that same country house from which the senior Mr. Phillips stole the play? [
RV
]
24.
bots
intestinal worms that beset horses. This looks suspiciously to me like “I need to see a man about a horse.”
25.
piping … fife
music of love rather than of war. [
RV
]
26.
dreary
cruel, horrid, perhaps melancholy, but not current meaning of boring or gloomy.
27.
purblind
myopic.
28.
in kind
ironically, a little grist for the mill of the Bacon-wrote-Shakespeare school. “In kind” in this sense is used nowhere else in Shakespeare, but is used in 1622 by Francis Bacon in his
Henry VII
. Of course, this may only prove that Bacon imitated Shakespeare or that they were both innovative in writing the spoken language of their period. [
RV
]
29.
conceit
fanciful notion, poetic figure.
30.
impress
forced into service.
31.
camomilèd hopes
Camomile was reputed to grow stronger for being trampled upon. The adjective is Shakespeare’s invention. [
RV
]
32.
blind boy
Cupid.
33.
in gyves
tied, as if with the straps that hold a hunting falcon to a wrist or perch.
34.
special
particular.
35.
hammering the flint
trying to solve a difficult problem, from trying to light a fire or fire a pistol with a flint. [
RV
]
36.
perforce
by force.
37.
arr
snarl like a dog (onomatopoeia). The imagery in these four lines comes from bear-baiting. Arthur casts himself in the role of the bear (as his name would suggest) which Guenhera picks up on in her next line. [
RV
]
38.
groundling
audience members standing in the courtyard of a theater, bullring, or bear pit.
39.
noble bear
As my father tirelessly reminded me as a boy, “Arthur” means “noble bear” in some Celtic tongue or other.
40.
bound in
surrounded.
41.
dowsabels
sweethearts [especially pastoral. —
RV
]
42.
dog-star
Sirius, but by implication the hottest days of the year, the dog days of summer.
43.
scrabbling
scratching frantically, like a dog.
44.
Achilles’ spear
The spear that wounded Telephus, in Greek myth, could also heal him. [
RV
]
45.
luxurious
lascivious, lustful.
46.
Regret
Somewhat surprisingly, here and below in
line 307
are the only two instances of this word in Shakespeare’s works, although it was used in books, which evidence suggests Shakespeare read, such as Spenser’s
Faerie Queene
. [
RV
]
47.
gorse
prickly furze. [
Ulex europaeus
. —
RV
]
48.
celandine
a wildflower.
49.
yellow buds … celandine … private paste
One hears Shakespeare’s Warwickshire childhood in these lines, one of those lovely moments that one is tempted to label autobiographical.
Ranunculus ficaria
, or lesser celandine, is a wildflower of the English Midlands, does indeed open and close for the sun (albeit not after being picked and woven), and was indeed used for a curative “private” ointment, as reflected in another nickname, “pilewort.” [
RV
]
50.
salt-ripe
on the verge of crying.
51.
oakshot
presumably, streamed through the branches of an oak. An invention of Shakespeare’s. [
RV
]
52.
eyne
eyes.
53.
wispen
wispy, made of wisps.
Act III, Scene II
1.
augured
predicted.
2.
traffics
commerce, trading.
3.
foison
plentiful harvest.
4.
round with young
pregnant.
5.
whelps
gives birth, especially for animals.
6.
croup
rump, from base of tail to mid-back.
7.
This is the line that, presented to my mother, prompted her dismissal of the entire play as “grotesque,” not to mention “unreadable.” “Better he should have spent his prison years lifting weights,” she sighed.
8.
Silvius
a common name in pastorals, English folklore, etc., and, as Mr. Phillips noted elsewhere, used for a shepherd in
As You Like It
. [
RV
]
9.
The Master stops himself from saying “Arthur.”
10.
cross-passage
another remarkable piece of linguistic evidence for the play’s authorship. A cross-passage was a corridor in a medieval house connecting two opposite doors, one giving onto the street and one onto the building’s yard. There is a cross-passage in the house where Shakespeare was born and raised. It passes in front of his father’s glove workshop and was used to allow a horse drawing a cart of skins to enter the building, continue through to the yard to make a delivery, and exit the same way. For Silvius to be so fat as to block the cross-passage is, of course, a grotesque exaggeration on the Master’s part. [
RV
]
11.
The Master was going to say “Arthur” again.
Act III, Scene III
1.
imbecile
puny, weakened. No implication of mental deficiency.
2.
durst
dared.
3.
decay
downfall, ruin.
4.
doubted
feared.
5.
meacock
effeminate, cowardly.
6.
crotchet
whimsical fancy.
7.
dandled
pampered.
8.
mazed
bewildered, perplexed.
9.
abrook
tolerate.
10.
each
We learn in IV.i that the queen has already miscarried twice. [
RV
]
11.
conceitful
imaginative, witty. In this context, it echoes also the question of her lack of conception, as in fertility. [
RV
]
12.
Mordred’s Short Man Disease is now confirmed. My father once said to Ted Constantine, while being led out of yet another courtroom, “Status can never make up for stature, Ted. You’ll be U.S. attorney general and you’ll still feel my balls resting on your hairpiece.”
13.
Admire
wonder, marvel.
14.
wide-lipped
open-mouthed.
15.
rav’ning
bloodthirsty, voracious.
16.
clout
rag [especially with menstrual connotation. —
RV
]
17.
tire
woman’s headdress.
18.
Note short line. A pause as Cumbria prepares to speak the treasonous next line. [
RV
]
19.
fealty
The word tended to take three syllables early in Shakespeare’s career and two syllables later. Here it takes three. [
RV
]
20.
misprising
misunderstanding.
Act V, Scene I
1.
lady-whifflers
female ushers.
2.
re-breathed
apparently Shakespeare’s coinage. Next attested use is in 1606. [
RV
]
3.
re-breathed my heir
“in whom I have again conceived a child.”
4.
“I abdicate my reign [to you].” (Latin)
5.
sharp
sharpen.
6.
tut
an exclamation of impatience.
7.
puling
whining.
8.
wink
turn a blind eye.
9.
Imprimis
“In the first place.” [A common legalism to introduce a list, the following points beginning with “
Item
.”—
RV
]
10.
St. Lambert’s Day
September 17.
11.
bosky covert
bushy grove.
12.
mellay
melée, the open combat portion of a jousting tournament.
13.
unmitigated
Shakespeare uses “mitigate” on a few occasions, but “unmitigated” only twice, here and in
Much Ado About Nothing
. Apparently it didn’t catch on; it doesn’t appear again in the OED until 1814, when Jane Austen picks up on it. [
RV
]
14.
two and dozen branches
A sonnet has fourteen lines.
15.
ban
condemn, rather than forbid.
16.
tick-tack
an early form of backgammon.
17.
tomboy
immodest woman;
geese
fools, but also slang for prostitute.
18.
empery
rule.
19.
sharp … neck … edge
“Keep talking like that and your tongue will get your head cut off.”
20.
compulsatory
involuntary, required. [Another case where Shakespeare used a word twice and never again: here and in
Hamlet
. See “Have I Twice Said Well” by David Crystal in
Around the Globe
magazine, 23, p. 11. —
RV
]
21.
rudesby
an insolent fellow.
22.
ballade
a poetic form of between twenty-five and thirty-five lines.
23.
masque
an elaborate music, dance, and verse entertainment.
24.
Martinmas
November 11.
25.
sorts
agrees, suits, conforms.
26.
manuals
books on etiquette and chivalric love, presumably.
27.
phoenix … ash
The mythical phoenix bird was thought to consume itself in flame and then be reborn from its own ashes.
28.
plenish up
replenish.
29.
titely
quickly.
30.
knife and fork
hand knives and pitchforks. The dining fork did not appear in England for another decade. [
RV
]
31.
bestrut
to strut, walk pompously.
32.
pick
pike.
33.
stalls
market stands.
34.
beshrew
curse.
35.
plaud
applaud.
36.
This may be a reference to the story of King Cnut, who demonstrated the limits of royal authority when he commanded the tide of a river to stop. [
RV
]
37.
proditor
traitor.
38.
Croesus
an ancient Lydian king renowned for wealth.
39.
Soldan
supreme medieval ruler of a Muslim power, though usually not the Turks. [
RV
]
40.
false conceptions
miscarriages.