Read it more than once
This is critical... easy for people to give up on poetry very early on in the process.
36 Matching Annotations
- Feb 2021
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poets.org poets.org
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- May 2020
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opensourceshakespeare.org opensourceshakespeare.org
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Tie up my love's tongue bring him silently
She wants him to stop talking because he has offended most of her servants.
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bower
A nice shaded place under a tree.
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I know your patience well: that same cowardly, giant-like ox-beef hath devoured many a gentleman of your house: I promise you your kindred had made my eyes water ere now
He has eaten a lot of mustard on beef so he is saying that he has eaten many of his relatives. They also have made his eyes water.
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Mistress Squash, your mother, and to Master Peascod
He makes fun of Peaseblossom's name
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if I cut my finger, I shall make bold with you.
He is saying that if he cuts his finger, he will use this servant to stop the bleeding. The attention has gone to his head a little bit.
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gambol in his eyes
This means to dance in front of him.
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And I do love thee
To be clear, Titania is enchanted by the potion from Puck that causes her to fall in love with the first thing she sees, which is unfortunately a man with a donkey head.
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but if I had wit enough to get out 970of this wood, I have enough to serve mine own turn.
If I was actually wise I would leave
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reason and 965love keep little company together now-a-days
This is a main theme in the play
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The finch, the sparrow and the lark, The plain-song cuckoo gray, Whose note full many a man doth mark, And dares not answer nay;— 955for, indeed, who would set his wit to so foolish a bird? who would give a bird the lie, though he cry 'cuckoo' never so?
Most performances have Bottom singing very poorly at this point, which adds to the humor of Titania falling in love with him because of the potion.
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translated.
morphed
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you see an asshead of your own, do you?
Bottom is ironically accusing Snout of being an ass.
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Why do they run away? this is a knavery of them to make me afeard.
Bottom is not aware that his head has become a donkey's.
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A hog, a headless bear, sometime a fire; 925And neigh, and bark, and grunt, and roar, and burn, Like horse, hound, hog, bear, fire, at every turn.
Basically Puck is going to cause a lot of chaos here.
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you speak all your part at once, cues and all Pyramus enter: your cue is past; it is, 'never tire.'
The last line in Thisby's dialogue is actually "would never tire" which indicates Pyramus to enter. Flute has messed up and started speaking his next line already when he is supposed to wait for Pyramus to respond.
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Ninny's
A ninny is a foolish person, once again a hilarious mixup from Flute.
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eke most lovely Jew,
There is a streak of antisemitism in this play. To Shakespeare's audience, they would understand that "Jew" is actually Flute mixing up his lines to really mean "jewel". Jews were widely hated in Europe at this time so mixing up the words is supposed to be a joke at their expense.
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Of colour like the red rose on triumphant brier,
Rose on a thorny bush
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Must I speak now?
Flute/Thisby has also missed his cue.
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A stranger Pyramus than e'er played here.
Puck thinks Bottom is doing a very poor job of acting.
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Odours, odours.
Bottom has misinterpreted his line.
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What hempen home-spuns have we swaggering here
Hempen home-spuns is the equivalent to "country bumpkins" in Shakespeare's time. Swaggering refers to them hanging around in a foolish sort of way.
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auditor
A reviewer/critic
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when you have spoken your 885speech, enter into that brake: and so every one according to his cue.
In Shakespeare's time it was not practical to give every actor a set of the script, so one stage director would have the complete script while the actors only had their lines written down and the last word or phrase of the line before them. A cue would be the last word or phrase the line before the actor was, so it would indicate for them to start speaking their line.
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cranny
a hole
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Some man or other must present Wall
They are saying that someone needs to play a wall so that Pyramus and Thisby can speak between them. They also realize it is too impractical for them to bring in an actual wall.
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Nay, you must name his name, and half his face must be seen through the lion's neck: and he himself must speak through, saying thus, or to the same defect,—'Ladies,'—or 'Fair-ladies—I would wish You,'—or 'I would request you,'—or 'I would 855entreat you,—not to fear, not to tremble: my life for yours. If you think I come hither as a lion, it were pity of my life: no I am no such thing; I am a man as other men are;' and there indeed let him name his name, and tell them plainly he is Snug the joiner.
The lion is too scary for the audience so he has to act with half his real face showing that he is not actually a lion. This scene is Shakespeare showing the foolishness of the actors who believe their audience cannot tell the difference between fantasy and reality.
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let it be written in eight and eight.
This is to indicate that Bottom wants the prologue explaining why Pyramus is not actually Pyramus to be longer and more elaborate, which adds to the humor of the scene.
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and it shall be 840written in eight and six.
Eight and six meter is the same as the form for a ballad.
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parlous fear.
Parlous=full of danger
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There are things in this comedy of Pyramus and Thisby that will never please. First, Pyramus must draw a sword to kill himself; which the ladies cannot abide.
The play is too violent for the female audience
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bully
In Shakespeare's time a bully is a positive term for friend, so Peter Quince is referring to Bottom as his friend.
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tiring-house
A tiring-house is a section of a theater reserved for the actors and used especially for dressing for stage entrances.
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- Feb 2020
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internetshakespeare.uvic.ca internetshakespeare.uvic.ca
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Sir, I will answer anything
this was the other passage I analyzed
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internetshakespeare.uvic.ca internetshakespeare.uvic.ca
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Her fa
this was the passage I analyzed
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