60 It shall be so Probably Arcite politely refuses to ‘lead the way’. Pericles, offered a place at the head of the table, also demurs (Per 2.3.23).

  62-4 This exchange, presumably after Arcite’s exit, can be played either as sophisticated banter or as a conflict between Theseus’ match-making eagerness and Emilia’s cool indifference.

  62 beshrew my heart a mild oath, reinforcing the speaker’s commitment to what follows

  64 2wise discreet

  * * *

  64 SD] Exeunt omnes. Q 2.6] Scæna 6. Q 3 him;] Proudfoot subst.; him Q 4 hence] Seward; hence, Q

  2.6

  2.6.2–4 The Daughter’s second sentence, in Q, is lightly punctuated, indicating her excited state of mind, and perhaps it does not matter whether ‘to a little wood’ is the object of ‘I have sent him’ or ‘I have brought him’. However, it seems from the context, and from hence, that the Daughter has brought Palamon out of prison in person, and then directed him to the woods rather than taking him there herself.

  5 a plane a plane tree

  6 Fast by close to

  close in hiding

  8 Love personified as the child Cupid

  10 endured cold iron been imprisoned, in fetters

  12 wit reason, common sense

  14 Find me detect me

  15 honest-hearted maids Cf. ‘faireyed maids’ (2.2.37).

  23-6 nor scarcely … father Davenant makes Philander, the counterpart of Palamon, express the scruples described here. Both the RSC and Ashland staged her freeing of Palamon; she brought him up through a trapdoor, but he was too dazed to speak to her.

  28 take more root Cf. Emilia (1.3.58–9) on the love between Theseus and Pirithous.

  29 use me At 29 she may mean simply ‘treat me’, but at 30 the meaning is primarily sexual; kindly (29) may also mean ‘according to nature’ (Proudfoot).

  31 no man impotent. Cf. unmanly, 19.

  34 So provided that

  he The Q spelling, hee, unique in this speech so dominated by he and him, probably indicates stress on the word.

  * * *

  12 it;] 1711 subst.; it Q 33 path] Q; patch Littledale (Ingleby) of] Q; on Proudfoot

  39 you … yourself You will have no prisoners left to look after, but you will be in jail yourself.

  * * *

  35 hubbub] (whoobub) 3.1] Actus Tertius. / Scæna I. Q 0.1–2] Cornets in / sundry places. / Noise and / hallowing as / people a May-/ ing. in margin opp. 2.6.39–3.1.0.1 Q 2 laund] Leech (Dyce); land Q; stand (Heath); hand (RP) rite] (Right)

  3.1

  3.1 Montgomery includes a direction for placing a bush on stage, and Taylor suggests that there was a woodland setting throughout (Taylor & Jowett, 42). There may be an implicit pun on ‘wood’; see 3.3.22–3n.

  0.1 hallooing ‘cries of people calling to each other from a distance or urging dogs in the chase’ (Leech). See 3.2.9.

  0.2 a-Maying celebrating May (by being outdoors in pairs or groups, gathering hawthorn and greenery, and sounding horns)

  2 laund a cleared space in a wood, ‘probably the same word with lane’ (Skeat). In the 1598 edn of Speght’s Chaucer, Theseus rides ‘to the land’ (1691) in order to hunt; in the 1602 edn the word is corrected to ‘launde’ in the errata list.

  rite See t.n.; both meanings are probably intended.

  3 bloomed May May (either the month or the hawthorn bush) when it is in bloom

  4 To … ceremony with all possible ceremony; another example of the concern first evidenced in 1.1

  Queen Emilia perhaps thinking of her as the Queen of the May

  5 Fresher than May Cf. KT: ‘Emelye, that fairer was to sene / Than is the lylie upon his stalke grene, / And fressher than the May (hawthorn) with floures newe’ (1035–7).

  6 buttons buds

  7 enamelled knacks trifles of various colours (Leech)

  mead meadow

  8 nymph i.e., any river made beautiful by the presence of a nymph. Skeat compares Spenser’s Prothalamion, 73–82. See also 4.1.83–8.

  9 That … flowers because the flowers on the bank are reflected in the water

  10 likewise like the nymph of 8 (Leech)

  pace Q’s reading is often amended to place, but Proudfoot follows OED (sb. 10): ‘a passage, a narrow way’.

  11 thy sole presence in two senses: Arcite imagines Emilia somewhere in the forest alone and claims that her mere presence would bless that place

  12 That if only

  eftsoons quickly

  13 chop … thought a complex (or confusing) image. A number of obsolete meanings of chop denote abrupt and unexpected action: to break in upon someone or something (OED v.1 8a and b); to make an exchange (v.2 1–2); to snap up and devour one’s prey (v.3). Skeat, following v.2, suggests that Arcite wants to change Emilia’s cold thought to a thought of love. Leech notes that v.3 can be used as a hunting term (‘to seize prey before it was away from cover’). In a characteristic Petrarchan mixture of humility and aggression, Arcite seems to want to burst upon Emilia (either in person or in her mind) in the midst of her cold (chaste) thoughts, perhaps with a pun on eating (chopping on) leftover (cold) foods. But it is not only Emilia’s thoughts but Emilia herself that he hopes to encounter; there may be a subliminal allusion to the story of the hunter Actaeon, who came upon the chaste Diana herself, and was killed for his presumption.

  14 To … mistress to become Emilia’s servant (as he did in 2.5); perhaps he is also still fantasizing about ‘accidentally’ meeting her in the woods. The rhyme of chop on and drop on seems unintentional.

  14-15 expectation … on’t without hoping for it

  15 Lady Fortune He had resigned himself to ‘the becking of our chance’ in 1.2.116. His worship of Fortune indicates overconfidence and courts disaster.

  17 takes … of pays a lot of attention to

  18 near her her attendant

  19 prim’st supreme (cf. ‘our prime cousin’ in 1.2.2)

  20 brace pair

  21 backed ridden

  * * *

  10 pace] Q; place Seward 11 thy rumination] Q; thy [… / …] rumination Oxf 13 thought!] Seward; thought, Q

  22 That … tried that decided their claims to the crown, as in the rivalry of Eteocles and Polynices

  23 Poor cousin Palamon At this point in KT, 1542–71, Arcite, far from gloating, laments that the wrath of Juno and Mars has led to the extinction of all the Theban royal family apart from him and Palamon, and made him a servant to his mortal enemy Theseus. Chaucer’s Palamon is nevertheless furious at what he hears, and it may be that the dramatists decided to provide more motivation for this anger.

  29 eared heard (but with a more strongly physical connotation: took it in at the ear)

  30 What … thee i.e., Palamon would be even more imprisoned (by emotion) than he is already

  passion anger

  30.1 as out of a bush The bush might be on stage (see headnote to this scene) but the as might mean that Palamon enters looking unkempt and ravenous, like the ‘wild man’ or ‘woodman’ figure of romance. cf. Dessen: ‘“As from” is used usually to denote a recently completed offstage action or event that (1) would have been difficult to stage or (2) can be staged but has been finessed to speed up the narrative’.

  shackles perhaps on both wrists and ankles (see 3.2.14)

  30.2 bends shakes

  34-5 I … traitor I would prove by combat that you have committed treason (towards love).

  36-7 gently … token noble, well-born: the first contrast is between Arcite’s manner and his behaviour; the second, between his rank and his lack of honour. Bawcutt suggests that gentle token refers to Arcite’s coat of arms or other symbol of rank.

  * * *

  36 void’st] Seward (Sympson); voydes Q honour] Seward; honour. Q

  40 Void of appointment without weapons and armour (see 1.4.15)

  liest one syllable, as indicated by Q’s spelling, ly’st (Oxf1)

  41 chaffy as light and worthless as chaff, the husks of corn

  43 house-clogs shackles

  44 Cozener cheater: a common pun (cozeners often won the confidence of their victim by claiming to be a long-lost ‘cousin’ or relative); see, for instance, 1H4 1.3.255

  44-5 give … feat ‘let your language correspond with the vileness of your actions’ (Mason)

  45-8 Not … answer Arcite retorts that his polite language is perfectly consistent with his behaviour, which has been honourable.

  47 blazon description. ‘The original sense of blason in Old French was simply a shield; then it came to mean a coat-of-arms, which is still the sense it has in French; then, in English only, it passed on to the sense of description of arms, and even to description in a general sense’ (Skeat).

  48-50 ’Tis … kind i.e., since passion is a source of suffering for its victim, it is not surprising that it is also cruel to others; kind may also mean ‘kin’ (RA)

  51 depend on serve (cf. ‘I do depend upon the lord’, TC 3.1.5)

  52 skip fail to see

  53 maintain justify

  54 generous noble, gentlemanly (Latin generous = gentleman)

  55 question quarrel

  * * *

  42 Not] Bawcutt (Littledale); Nor Q 43 away –] Littledale; away. Q

  56 clear both to clear the way and to show the innocence of his actions

  57 That thou durst if only you dared

  58 advertised made aware (stressed on second syllable)

  60-1 Sure … doubted You would not let another person accuse me of cowardice.

  61-2 your … i’th’ sanctuary You would break silence to defend me even in a holy place (or, even if you were in hiding there).

  64 justify prove

  65-6 the whole … rain i.e., any inconsistency casts doubt over the whole of a man’s reputation. Immediately before Arcite’s soliloquy, Chaucer compares the emotional instability of lovers to the unsettled weather of Friday, Venus’ day: ‘Selde is the Friday all the weeke ilike’ (KT, 1539).

  68 compelled bears bears at a bear-baiting (who are forced to fight). Skeat compares ‘I cannot fly, / But bear-like I must fight the course’ (Mac 5.7.1–2).

  would which would (Proudfoot)

  70 glass mirror

  72 Quit rid

  gyves fetters

  * * *

  68 compelled] Q; coupel’d F

  77 yea, my life and even your killing of me

  78 carry’t win the fight. Skeat compares ‘If he scape, / Heaven forgive him too!’ (Mac 4.3.234–5), which also refers to trial by combat.

  in shades in the part of the Elysian fields reserved for military heroes

  83 With … night in secrecy, taking only the night into his confidence

  88 in plight physically fit

  90 *nobly Q’s reading, noble, is not impossible, but the emendation makes more sense. It gets some confirmation from Davenant’s ‘Dare any venture so nobly in a cause so guilty?’ (Act 3, p. 28).

  92-6 Arcite’s line is probably accompanied by an offered embrace. Palamon’s reply suggests that he accepts it without any softening of his attitude and considers Arcite hypocritical for wishing any contact except in combat.

  * * *

  90 nobly] Skeat; noble Q 92 SD] this edn; not in Q

  96 SD Q’s SD (see t.n.) presumably means that the cornets were played to sound like hunting horns (see Appendix 6, p. 406).

  * * *

  96 SD] this edn; Winde hornes of Cornets / after 95 Q; Wind horns off / Leech (Bertram) 97 musit] Knight; Musicke Q; muise Davenant; muse quick Seward 106 Yet … language] Q; Yet – pardon me – Oxf 107 not] F; nor Q 108 SD] Winde hornes / after 106 Q

  97 *musit Q’s music is clearly wrong. As Reed noted in 1778, Davenant emends to muise, of which muset and musit are diminutives: an obsolete word for the hiding place or small opening through which a hunted hare escapes (OED quotes VA 683–4). The word is in keeping with Arcite’s rather superior tone in this scene (see also 82), making Palamon sound like one of the small animals involved in the day’s hunting.

  98 crossed ere met prevented before we can meet

  101 with … brow frowning (not in your present amiable manner)

  103 oil polite words (‘court oil’ was proverbial for flattery; see Dent, O25)

  104-5 my stomach … reason Walker interprets this as conditional: ‘If my anger (which was supposed to make the stomach flow faster) were not rational’, but, given Palamon’s contempt for Arcite’s reasonableness, the line may be a statement of fact.

  106 pardon … language Forgive me for not using the kind of language you have asked to hear. The contrast between the calm and the passionate man, not in KT, recalls the already famous quarrel in JC, where Cassius likewise accuses his opponent of hypocrisy: ‘Brutus, this sober form of yours hides wrongs …’ (4.2.40). Beaumont and Fletcher imitated it to some extent in 3.2 of The Maid’s Tragedy (1610). Montgomery (see t.n.) makes the line a comment on Palamon’s manner.

  108 one face the same outward appearance

  109 scattered as in 1–2

  110 office Having overheard his soliloquy, Palamon knows that Arcite will be there as attendant to Emilia; hence his anger.

  112 *’Tis … title Q’s reading (see t.n.) can make sense as it stands, but is excessively tortuous for a reply trying to put an end to Palamon’s verbal attacks. Title, as in 20–2, means not only Arcite’s court office but his right to Emilia herself.

  113 this … between ’s our quarrel which is ill (because we are both ill from it)

  114 bleeding a common medical remedy, frequently mentioned with a double meaning (cf. R2 1.1.157)

  I … suitor I beseech you

  115 plea quarrel (usually, in law)

  118 Nay … Nay Arcite starts to leave in disgust and Palamon detains him.

  122 vantage advantage. RP notes the paradox: a combatant normally tried to gain the advantage by having the sun in his adversary’s eyes, but Palamon (like Arcite in 2.3.9–10) thinks of Emilia as a source of strength. Cf. her own view of her influence in 5.3.60–5.

  * * *

  112 ’Tis] Oxf (Proudfoot1); If Q; I’ve Seward title.] Bawcutt; title, Q 3.2] Scæna 2. Q

  3.2

  3.2.0.1 The Daughter carries a file (see 8) and perhaps also a bundle containing her clothes and food for Palamon (see 2.6.6–7 and 32), unless she is assumed to have left these at the meeting-point.

  1 *brake bush. Q’s beak can mean brook, but, since Palamon enters from a bush, Theobald’s suggestion makes sense. Davenant’s beach, i.e. beech (perhaps influenced by 3.3.41) suggests that he envisaged a woodland setting.

  meant directed him to (or, perhaps, intended)

  1-2 gone … fancy wandered off (where his fancy took him). The Daughter first thinks that Palamon went to the wrong meeting-point, then, in the first of many rapid swings to imagining the worst, decides that he deliberately chose not to stay there.

  2 well-nigh almost

  4 a wolf Possibly there is an offstage sound at this point, but the Daughter may only be imagining it.

  6 that’s the one thing of 5

  7 reck Q’s wreak is used, as often in the Renaissance, erroneously for reck, care. See OED ‘wreak’ and ‘reck’ v. 3a.

  jaw devour; the only OED example of this sense

  9 I cannot hallow Hallowing (or holloaing, or hallooing) is louder than whooping and requires a stronger voice (see TN 1.5.272, where Viola talks of making the hills echo with the sound). Montgomery’s spelling in 8–9 gives the modern sense.

  11 do … service Instead of ‘serving’ Palamon in the sexual sense, she might either lead the wolf to where he was or save his life at her own expense, by distracting its attention; either way, the phrase is ironic.

  12 Strange … night Cf. the ‘strange screams of death’ and the owl that ‘Clamor’d the livelong night’ during Duncan’s murder (Mac 2.3.56, 59–60).

  15 fell deadly

  17 set it down record it. Waith (Oxf1) compares Ham 1.5.108.

  * * *

  1 mistook] Seward; mistook; Q brake] Weber (Theobald); Beake Q; beach Davenant; beck Seward; brook (Sympson) 7 reck] (wreake) Q 8 hallooed] Q (hallowd) [etc.]; hollowed F; hallooed 1778; hollered Oxf 14 jangling] (lengling) Q

  18 they … together Wolves were believed to divide their prey among them: ‘if there be many of them … it is said, that they howle and call their fellowes to that feast’ (Topsell, 738).

  19 *fed All editors since 1679 have emended Q’s feed but Bowers argues for retaining it, taking the sentence to read ‘He’s torn … and then they feed’, with ‘they howled many together’ as a parenthetical interjection. His suggestion is consistent with the Daughter’s vivid imagining of disaster in the present tense (compare 3.4.5–11), if one can accept the use of then instead of ‘now’.

  20 Be … bell Don’t hesitate to sound his death knell.

  How … I What is my situation? Cf. Ham (Q2) 4.1.55.

  21 All’s chared ‘My task is done’ (Weber). See OED chare v. 4. The noun is ‘chare’, still used in the form of ‘chore’.

  23-4 Myself … act If she begs her life and lies about her guilt, she will be left a penniless beggar when her father has been hanged in disgrace.

  24 that i.e., deny what I have done

  25 try … dozens experience dozens of deaths

  moped stupefied, bewildered

  28 my … brine ‘when I closed them to get rid of their tears’ (Leech)

  29 Dissolve ‘Natural’ death is envisaged as an evaporation of the whole being at once, as opposed to gradual suffering or loss of parts of it: cf. Faustus’ wish to be like beasts whose ‘souls are soone dissolv’d in elements’ (Marlowe, Dr Faustus, 5.2.1970) and Hamlet’s longing for his flesh to ‘resolve itself into a dew’ (Ham 1.2.130).