ElizabethanDrama.org presents the Annotated
Popular Edition of THE
WIDOW’S TEARS by George
Chapman |
1612 |
Featuring complete and
easy-to-read annotations. Annotations and notes © Copyright ElizabethanDrama.org, 2018 |
THE
ACTORS. |
INTRODUCTION to the
PLAY |
|
Tharsalio, the wooer. |
The Widow's Tears by George Chapman is a schizophrenic |
|
Lysander,
his brother. |
play, whose farcical
first-half plot eventually gives way to a |
|
Cynthia,
wife to Lysander. |
somewhat more serious
second-half one. Yet a single theme, |
|
Ero, waiting-woman to
Cynthia. |
the inconstancy of
women, is shared by both tales; indeed, |
|
Hylus, son to Lysander,
nephew to Tharsalio. |
Chapman has been
criticized for his rather cynical approach |
|
to the ability of
women to control their libidos. A bonus in |
||
Eudora,
the widow countess. |
the play is the
hilarious appearance of the highly ridiculous |
|
Sthenia, gentlewoman attending on Eudora. |
Governor in the final
scene. |
|
Ianthe, gentlewoman
attending on Eudora. |
|
|
Clinias, a servant to Eudora. |
NOTE on the PLAY'S
SOURCE |
|
Lycus, a servant to Eudora. |
||
Argus, gentleman usher to
Eudora |
The text of the play
is taken from Thomas Marc Parrott's |
|
Laodice, daughter to Eudora. |
1913 collection Chapman's
Comedies, fully cited below. |
|
Rebus,
a suitor to Eudora. |
NOTES on the
ANNOTATIONS |
|
Hiarbas,
Friend to Rebus. |
||
Psorabeus,
Friend to Rebus. |
Mention of Parrott, Smeak and Holaday in
the annota- |
|
tions refers to the
notes provided by each of these editors |
||
The Governor of Cyprus |
in their respective editions
of this play, each cited fully |
|
Captain
of the Watch |
below. |
|
Two Soldiers |
The most commonly cited sources are
listed in the |
|
footnotes immediately
below. The complete list of footnotes |
||
Arsace,
a pandress. |
appears at the end of
this play. |
|
Thomasin,
a courtesan |
1. Oxford English Dictionary
(OED) online. |
|
2. Crystal, David and Ben. Shakespeare's
Words. |
||
The Scene: |
London; New York:
Penguin, 2002. |
|
Paphos, on the Island of Cyprus. |
3. Parrott, Thomas Marc. Chapman's
Comedies. |
|
London: George
Routledge & Sons, 1914. |
||
4. Smeak, Ethel, ed. The Widow's Tears.
Lincoln: The |
||
University of Nebraska
Press, 1966. |
||
12. Holaday, Allan. The Plays of
George Chapman: The |
||
Comedies. Urbana: U. of Illinois Press, 1970. |
||
ACT I. |
||
SCENE I. |
||
A Room in the House of Lysander. |
||
Enter Tharsalio solus,
with a glass in his hand, |
= alone. = mirror. |
|
making ready. |
Entering Character: our hero Tharsalio is a young
man |
|
1 |
Thar. Thou blind imperfect goddess, that
delights |
1f: Tharsalio
begins the play with a soliloquy addressed to |
2 |
(Like a deep-reaching statesman) to converse |
2-5: Fortune
only talks with fools, because she knows they |
Only with fools, jealous of knowing
spirits, |
will always worship her, since they
never suspect how |
|
4 |
For fear their piercing judgments might discover |
= find out.1 |
Thy inward weakness and despise thy
power, |
= disdain. |
|
6 |
Contemn thee for a goddess; thou that lad'st |
6: Contemn thee for
a goddess = the sense is "in their scorn, |
Th' unworthy ass with gold, while worth and
merit |
= ie. those persons
who are deserving of good fortune. |
|
8 |
Serve thee for nought, weak Fortune, I
renounce |
= nothing. |
Thy vain dependance, and convert my duty |
9: thy vain
dependence = "my worthless (vain) connection |
|
10 |
And sacrifices of my sweetest thoughts |
|
To a more noble deity, sole friend to worth,
|
= ie. those who are
meritorious. |
|
12 |
And patroness of all good spirits, Confidence;
|
= boldness, here a
sentiment more daring than plain vanilla |
She be my guide, and hers the praise of these |
confidence. |
|
14 |
My worthy undertakings. |
|
16 |
Enter Lysander with a glass
in his hand, |
Entering Characters: Lysander is Tharsalio's
brother; |
Cynthia, Hylus, Ero. |
Cynthia is the wife of
Lysander, Hylus their son. Ero |
|
18 |
||
Lys.
Morrow, brother! Not ready yet? |
19ff: the
initial interaction between the brothers Lysander and Tharsalio, and
Lysander's wife Cynthia, is one of good-natured teasing and humorous banter. |
|
20 |
||
Thar. No; I have somewhat of the brother in me. |
21: "No. I am a
bit like my brother this way." |
|
22 |
I dare say your wife is many times ready, and
you |
|
not up
− Save you, sister; how are you enamoured |
23: not up =
not ready or awake, but also quite suggestive, |
|
24 |
of my presence? How like you my aspect?
|
= appearance.2 |
26 |
Cyn. Faith, no worse than I did last
week; the weather |
= truly.1 |
has nothing changed the grain of your
complexion. |
= quality3
or texture.1 |
|
28 |
||
Thar. A firm proof 'tis in grain, and so
are not all |
= that it (ie. his
complexion) is ingrained, ie. unalterable.1 |
|
30 |
complexions. A good soldier's face, sister! |
|
32 |
Cyn. Made to be worn under a beaver. |
= visor of a helmet.3 |
34 |
Thar. Ay, and 'twould show well enough under a
mask, |
|
too. |
||
36 |
||
Lys. So much for the face! |
||
38 |
||
Thar. But is there no object in this suit to whet
your |
39-40: "can you
find nothing in my clothes to tease me |
|
40 |
tongue upon? |
about?" The phrase whet the
tongue upon means to |
42 |
Lys. None, but Fortune send you well to
wear it; for |
= "grant you
success".1 |
she best knows how you got it. |
||
44 |
||
Thar. Faith, 'tis the portion she bestows upon
younger |
45-46: 'tis
the…clothes = generally, the mass of the fortune |
|
46 |
brothers, valour and good clothes. Marry,
if you ask |
of a family was passed on to the eldest
son, who in this |
how we come by this new suit, I must
take time to |
= with suit,
Tharsalio refers to both his new outfit and a |
|
48 |
answer it; for as the ballad says, In
written books I |
48-49: for as…find
it = the written books refer to the account books of tailors, in
which they register the names of those who owe them money.3
Tharsalio, in other words, is implying he hasn't paid for his new suit yet. |
find it.
Brother, these are the blossoms of spirit; and I |
= ie. full-flowerings,
prime.2 |
|
50 |
will have it said for my father's honour,
that some of |
= Tharsalio's father
is, of course, also Lysander's father. |
his children were truly begotten. |
= legitimate. |
|
52 |
||
Lys. Not all? |
||
54 |
||
Thar. Shall I tell you, brother, that I
know will rejoice |
= ie. "something
that". |
|
56 |
you? My former suits have been all spenders;
this shall |
56-7: "My former
courtships (suits) have all been a waste of |
be a speeder. |
= success,1
referring to the newest intended target of his |
|
58 |
affections. |
|
Lys. A thing to be heartily wished; but,
brother, take |
||
60 |
heed you be not gulled; be not too forward.
|
= fooled,
deceived. = aggressive, eager.1 |
62 |
Thar. 'T had been well for me if you had followed
that |
|
counsel. You were too forward when you stepped
into |
||
64 |
the world before me and gulled me of
the land that my |
= cheated, though
Tharsalio does not intend such a bitter |
spirits and parts were indeed born to. |
= qualities. |
|
66 |
||
Cyn. May we not have the blessing to know the
aim of |
||
68 |
your fortunes? What coast, for Heaven's
love? |
= direction.1 |
70 |
Thar. Nay, 'tis a project of state: you
may see the |
= scheme; Tharsalio
won't reveal the details of his latest |
preparation, but the design lies hidden in the
breasts of |
plan. |
|
72 |
the wise. |
|
74 |
Lys. May we not know't? |
|
76 |
Thar. Not unless you'll promise me to laugh at
it, for |
|
without your applause I'll none. |
||
78 |
||
Lys. The quality of it may be such as a laugh
will not |
||
80 |
be ill bestowed upon't; pray Heaven I call not
Arsace |
|
sister. |
= ie. sister-in-law;
Lysander only wants assurance that |
|
82 |
Tharsalio doesn't intend to marry the
bawd Arsace, |
|
Cyn. What, the pandress? |
||
84 |
||
Thar. Know you (as who knows not?) the
exquisite |
85f: Tharsalio
ignores the last comments of Lysander and |
|
86 |
lady of the palace, the late governor's
admired widow, |
|
the rich and haughty Countess Eudora? Were
not she a |
= lofty or dignified.1 = "wouldn't she be". |
|
88 |
jewel worth the wearing, if a man knew how to
win her? |
|
90 |
Lys. How's that, how's that? |
90: Lysander cannot
believe what he is hearing. |
92 |
Thar. Brother, there is a certain goddess called |
92f: Tharsalio
plans to win the rich Eudora, who is |
Confidence, that carries a main stroke in
honourable |
||
94 |
preferments.
Fortune waits upon her, Cupid is at her |
= advancements. |
beck; she sends them both of
errands. This deity doth |
94-95: Cupid…beck
= the god of love, like the goddess |
|
96 |
promise me much assistance in this business. |
Fortune, is under Confidence's control. |
98 |
Lys. But if this deity should draw you up in a
basket to |
98-100:
Lysander alludes to a story told in the Middle Ages |
your countess's window, and there let you hang
for all |
about the Roman poet Virgil, who was
imagined to be a |
|
100 |
the wits in the town to shoot at; how then? |
sorcerer; a lady he was wooing asked him
to visit her at |
102 |
Thar. If she do, let them shoot their bolts
and spare |
= arrows with blunt
heads.2 |
not; I have a little bird in a cage here that
sings me |
||
104 |
better comfort. What should be the bar?
You'll say, |
= "What will stop
me?" |
I was page to the Count her husband. What of that? I |
= a key part of
Eudora's upcoming resistance to Tharsalio's |
|
106 |
have thereby one foot in her favour
already. She has |
= step. |
taken note of my spirit and surveyed my good parts, |
= ie. already had a
chance to observe. = physical
qualities. |
|
108 |
and the picture of them lives in her eye;
which sleep, I |
|
know, cannot close till she have embraced the |
||
110 |
substance.
|
= ie. the real thing. |
112 |
Lys. All this savours of the blind goddess
you speak of. |
= ie. Confidence. |
114 |
Thar. Why should I despair but that Cupid hath
one |
|
dart in store for her
great ladyship, as well as for any |
= arrow. |
|
116 |
other huge lady whom she hath made
stoop gallant to |
116: huge =
great or high ranking.2,4 |
kiss their worthy followers? In a word,
I am assured |
= pursuers, suitors. |
|
118 |
of my speed. Such fair attempts led by
a brave resolve |
= success. = determination. |
are evermore seconded by Fortune. |
= supported: luck
favors the bold. |
|
120 |
||
Cyn. But, brother, have I not heard you
say your own |
= ie. Tharsalio. |
|
122 |
ears have been witness to her vows, made
solemnly to |
122-4: her
vows…widow's bed = Eudora had vowed never |
your late lord, in memory of him to preserve till death |
= ie. Eudora's
deceased husband. |
|
124 |
the unstained honour of a widow's bed? If
nothing else, |
|
yet that might cool your confidence. |
||
126 |
||
Thar. Tush, sister! Suppose you should protest
with |
= vow. |
|
128 |
solemn oath (as perhaps you have done) if ever
Heaven |
128-130: if
ever…interred = "if God listens to your prayers |
hears your prayers that you may live to see my
brother |
||
130 |
nobly interred, to feed only upon fish and not
endure the |
130-2: to feed…life
= Tharsalio compares a life without any |
touch of flesh during the wretched Lent of
your |
men which a widow might vow to lead to
the deprivation |
|
132 |
miserable life; would you believe it, brother?
|
and sacrifice made by those who give up
meat during |
Lent; the word flesh could refer
both to meat that one |
||
134 |
Lys. I am therein most confident. |
|
136 |
Thar. Indeed you had better believe it than try
it. But |
= test. |
pray, sister, tell me − you are a woman
− do not you |
||
138 |
wives nod your heads and smile one upon
another when |
|
ye meet abroad? |
||
140 |
||
Cyn. Smile? Why so? |
||
142 |
||
Thar. As who should say, “Are not we mad wenches,
|
||
144 |
that can lead our blind husbands thus by the
noses?” Do |
|
you not brag among yourselves how grossly you
abuse |
||
146 |
their honest credulities? How they adore you
for saints, |
|
and you believe it, while you adhorn their
temples, and |
= "commit
adultery with other men"; this is the first of |
|
148 |
they believe it not? How you vow widowhood in
their |
148-9: How
you…lifetime = "How you promise to never |
lifetime and they believe you, when even in
the sight of |
|
|
150 |
their breathless corse, ere they
be fully cold, you join |
= corpse. = before. |
embraces with his groom, or his
physician, and perhaps |
= servant.2 |
|
152 |
his poisoner; or at least, by the next moon
(if you can |
|
expect
so long) solemnly plight new hymeneal bonds, |
= wait. = make new marriage vows; Hymen was
the god of |
|
154 |
with a wild, confident, untamed ruffian – |
marriage. |
156 |
Lys. As for example? |
|
158 |
Thar.
And
make him the top of his house and
|
= ie. head of the
remarried woman's household. |
sovereign lord of the palace? As for example,
look you, |
||
160 |
brother, this glass is mine – |
= mirror. |
162 |
Lys. What of that? |
|
164 |
Thar. While I am with it, it takes impression
from my |
164f: Tharsalio
engages in a creative metaphor: just as a husband cannot stop his wife from
becoming attracted to another man, so Tharsalio cannot prevent his mirror
from being serviceable to another person, even as it reflects only his own
face at the moment. |
face; but can I make it so mine, that it shall
be of no use |
||
166 |
to any other? Will it not do his office
to you or you; and |
= its (its was
rarely used by Elizabethans). =
function. |
as well to my groom as to myself? Brother,
monopolies |
167-8: monopolies...down
= "monopolies are condemned |
|
168 |
are cried down. Is it not madness for
me to believe, |
(cried down)1."
Tharsalio of course has the monopoly |
when I have conquered that fort of chastity
the great |
= common military
metaphor for a woman's resistance. |
|
170 |
Countess, that if another man of my making and
mettle |
= character. |
shall assault her, her eyes and ears should
lose their |
||
172 |
function, her other parts their use, as
if Nature had made |
= probably suggestive. |
her all in vain, unless I only had stumbled
into her |
||
174 |
quarters? |
168-174: Is it
not…quarters = "would it not be crazy for me |
to think that if the
countess, after marrying me, met another man of my looks and qualities, she
would not be attracted to him, as if Nature had wasted creation on her, but
for the good luck that brought me into her life?" |
||
176 |
Cyn. Brother, I fear me in your travels, you
have drunk |
|
too much of that Italian air, that hath
infected the whole |
= the English believed
that travel to Italy corrupted one's |
|
178 |
mass of your ingenuous nature, dried up in you
all sap |
morals.3 |
of generous disposition, poisoned the very
essence of |
||
180 |
your soul, and so polluted your senses
that whatsoever |
180: polluted =
corrupted. |
enters there takes from them contagion and is
to your |
180-183: whatsoever…spotless
= "whatever your |
|
182 |
fancy represented as foul
and tainted, which in itself, |
senses notice you imagine to be foul and
tainted, even |
perhaps, is spotless. |
if it is completely pure and good (spotless)." |
|
184 |
fancy = imagination. |
|
Thar. No, sister, it hath refined my senses, and
made |
||
186 |
me see with clear eyes, and to judge of
objects as they |
186-7: and to
judge…seem = Smeak has noted that Tharsalio |
truly are, not as they seem, and through their
mask to |
is responding to
Cynthia's reference to Italian air by alluding to, and varying, a
point made by Machiavelli in The Prince, that a ruler must be a
"great feigner and dissembler", so that "everybody sees what
you appear to be", but "few feel what you are."21 |
|
188 |
discern the true face of things. It tells me
how short- |
|
lived widows' tears are, that their weeping is
in truth |
189-190: their
weeping…a mask = a variation of a proverb |
|
190 |
but laughing under a mask, that they mourn in
their |
composed by the 1st
century B.C. writer Syrian Publius Syrus, famous for his collection of maxims
and sayings: "the weeping of an heir is laughter under a mask",6
here applied to widows; a common and cynical Elizabethan sentiment. |
gowns and laugh in their sleeves; all
which I believe |
= ie. with their faces
hidden from observation. |
|
192 |
as a Delphian oracle, and am resolved to burn in that |
= ie. as if it had
been spoken by the oracle at Delphi, the |
faith. And in that resolution do I march to
the great |
192-3: am resolved…faith =
"I will die rather than |
|
194 |
lady. |
abandon that belief." Tharsalio's
tightly-held opinion |
196 |
Lys. You lose time, brother, in discourse;
by this had |
196: in discourse
= "in chatting away with us." |
you bore up with the lady, and clapped
her aboard, for |
197-9: with bore up,
Lysander begins an extended nautical |
|
198 |
I know your confidence will not dwell long in
the |
|
service.
|
= service means
both (1) military service, continuing the |
|
200 |
||
Thar. No, I will perform it in the conqueror's
style. |
||
202 |
Your way is not to win Penelope by suit,
but by |
202: Penelope =
the wife of Ulysses, Penelope famously resisted the wooing of 108 suitors as
she waited for the return of her husband from the Trojan War. |
surprise. The castle's carried by a sudden
assault, that |
||
204 |
would perhaps sit out
a twelvemonth's siege. It would |
= ie. would
otherwise. = resist. |
be a good breeding to my young nephew
here, if he |
= training, ie.
lesson.1 |
|
206 |
could procure a stand at the palace to
see with what |
= ie. vantage point
from which to watch Tharsalio at work. |
alacrity I'll acoast her countess-ship,
in what garb I will |
= old form of accost,3
with its modern meaning, but also |
|
208 |
woo her, with what facility I will win
her. |
= ease. |
210 |
Lys. It shall go hard but we'll hear your
entertainment |
210: the sense seems
to be, "it won't be easy but we will |
for your confidence sake. |
listen to how you expect to manage
this." |
|
212 |
||
Thar. And having won her, nephew, this
sweet face, |
= ie. Hylus,
Lysander's son. = ie. Hylus' face. |
|
214 |
Which all the city says is so like me, |
= ie. mine. |
Like me shall be preferred, for I will
wed thee |
= advanced (in
status). |
|
216 |
To my great widow's daughter and sole heir, |
|
The lovely spark, the bright Laodicè. |
||
218 |
||
Lys. A good pleasant dream! |
||
220 |
||
Thar. In this
eye I see |
221-2: In this
eye…fire = Tharsalio further comments on his |
|
222 |
That fire that shall in me inflame the mother, |
resemblance to his nephew; this eye
= Hylus' eye. |
And that in this shall set on fire the
daughter. |
||
224 |
It goes, sir, in a blood; believe me, brother, |
= to go in a blood (here
and in the next line) means to |
These destinies go ever in a blood. |
"be a family trait" or
"run in a family".1 |
|
226 |
||
Lys. These diseases do, brother, take
heed of them; |
= weaknesses or mental
illnesses.2 = "beware
of" or "keep |
|
228 |
fare you well; take heed you be not baffled.
|
= exposed to ridicule,
disgraced;1 Lysander is warning |
his brother to be careful. |
||
230 |
[Exeunt Lysander,
Cynthia, Hylus, Ero; |
|
manet Tharsalio.] |
= Tharsalio remains
on-stage alone. |
|
232 |
||
Thar. Now, thou that art the third blind deity |
= ie. Confidence,
along with Love and Fortune: they are |
|
234 |
That governs earth in all her happiness, |
blind in the sense that they act
arbitrarily or randomly.1 |
The life of all endowments. Confidence, |
||
236 |
Direct and prosper my intentiön. |
|
Command thy servant deities, Love and Fortune,
|
||
238 |
To second my attempts for this great
lady, |
= support, back up. |
Whose page I lately was; that she, whose board |
= table (for eating);1
these last few lines of Tharsalio's brief |
|
240 |
I might not sit at, I may board abed, |
240-1: the scene ends,
as scenes often do, with a rhyming |
And under bring, who bore so high her head. |
couplet. |
|
242 |
||
[Exit.] |
||
ACT I, SCENE II. |
||
A Room in the House of Eudora. |
||
Enter Lysander, Lycus. |
Entering Character: though a servant of Eudora's, Lycus
is |
|
|
||
1 |
Lycus. 'Tis miraculous that you tell me,
sir; he come to |
= what. = ie. "Tharsalio is coming". |
2 |
woo our lady mistress for his wife? |
|
4 |
Lys. 'Tis a frenzy he is possessed with,
and will not be |
= madness. |
cured but by some violent remedy. And you
shall favour |
||
6 |
me so much to make me a spectator of the
scene. But is |
|
she, say you, already accessible for suitors?
I thought |
||
8 |
she would have stood so stiffly on her
widow vow, that |
= unyieldingly. |
she would not endure the sight of a suitor. |
||
10 |
||
Lycus. Faith, sir, Penelope could not bar
her gates |
= second reference to
the wife of Ulysses; see the note |
|
12 |
against her wooers; but she will still be
mistress of |
12-13: she
will…herself = she will do as she pleases. |
herself. It is, you know, a certain itch in
female blood: |
||
14 |
they love to be sued to; but she'll hearken
to no suitors. |
= wooed, pursued. = listen to, attend or regard.1 |
16 |
Lys. But by your leave, Lycus, Penelope is not
so wise |
|
as her husband Ulysses, for he, fearing the
jaws of the |
17-18: Ulysses…her
voice = the Sirens were
mythical sea |
|
18 |
Siren, stopped his ears with wax against her
voice. |
creatures who lured
sailors to their deaths with their enchanting singing. In the Odyssey,
Ulysses had his sailors stop their ears with wax, so they would not hear the
Sirens' song, but had himself lashed to a mast without stopping his ears, so
that he could hear their music without throwing away his life. |
They that fear the adder's sting, will not
come near her |
||
20 |
hissing. Is any suitor with her now? |
|
22 |
Lycus. A Spartan lord, dating himself our
great |
22-23: A
Spartan…kinsman = Eudora is being courted by one Rebus, a Spartan lord,
who, as we shall see, uses his kinship with the Viceroy (which usually
refers to a deputy king, but here is identified as no more than an
unspecified position superior to the Governor of Cyprus) as a selling point. |
Viceroy's
kinsman, and two or three other of his
|
||
24 |
country lords as spots in his train. He comes armed |
24: country lords
= fellow Spartan nobles, perhaps nobles |
with his Altitude's letters in grace of
his person, with |
= his Altitude
was a common mock title, applied here to |
|
26 |
promise to make her a duchess if she embrace
the |
26-27: embrace the
match = ie. marry him. |
match. This is no mean attraction to
her high thoughts; |
= base, worthless. |
|
28 |
but yet she disdains him. |
|
30 |
Lys. And how then shall my brother presume of |
30-31: And
how…acceptance = ie. if Eudora is hesitant to |
acceptance? Yet I hold it much more under her |
31-32: under her
contentment = ie. she would be less than |
|
32 |
contentment to marry such a nasty braggart,
than under |
satisfied. |
her honour to wed my brother − a
gentleman, (though I |
||
34 |
say't) more honourably descended than that
lord, who, |
|
perhaps, for all his ancestry, would be much
troubled to |
||
36 |
name you the place where his father was born. |
|
38 |
Lycus. Nay, I hold no comparison betwixt your
brother |
|
and him. And the venerean disease, to which
they say |
39-40: the
venerean…wedded = humorous description of |
|
40 |
he has been long wedded, shall, I hope, first
rot him, |
|
ere she endure the savour of his sulphurous
breath. |
= ie. breath having a
stench like that of sulphur, a side-effect |
|
42 |
Well, her ladyship is at hand; y' are best
take you to |
|
your stand.
|
= Lycus has found
Lysander a vantage point from which |
|
44 |
to view the ensuing scene in Eudora's
house. |
|
Lys. Thanks, good friend Lycus! |
||
46 |
||
[Exit.] |
||
48 |
||
Enter Argus, barehead,
with whom another usher, |
Entering Character: Argus is an attendant (usher)
of the |
|
50 |
Lycus, joins, going
over the stage. |
|
Hiarbas and Psorabeus
next, Rebus single before |
51: Rebus
is Eudora's Spartan suitor; Hiarbas and |
|
52 |
Eudora, Laodice; |
52: Eudora
is the widowed countess we have been hearing |
Sthenia bearing her
train, Ianthe following. |
53: Sthenia and
Ianthe are female servants of Eudora. |
|
54 |
||
Reb. I admire, madam, you cannot love
whom the |
55-56: "I marvel
(admire) that you don't love me, since the |
|
56 |
Viceroy loves. |
Viceroy loves me." |
58 |
Hiar. And one whose veins swell so with his
blood, |
58-59: Hiarbas points
out (no doubt for the umpteenth time) |
madam, as they do in his lordship. |
how closely Rebus is related to the
Viceroy. The use of |
|
60 |
swell and blood may also
be suggestive of Rebus' sexual |
|
Psor. A near and dear kinsman his lordship is to
his |
||
62 |
Altitude the Viceroy; in care of whose
good speed here |
= anxiety over.1 = success. |
I know his Altitude hath not slept a sound
sleep since |
||
64 |
his departure. |
= ie. Rebus'. |
66 |
Eud. I thank Venus I have, ever since he
came. |
66: "I'm grateful
I have slept well, ever since Rebus arrived |
here." Note how
Eudora gently mocks Rebus in this conversation, even as he does not recognize
the irony. |
||
68 |
Reb. You sleep away your honour, madam, if you |
|
neglect me. |
||
70 |
||
Hiar. Neglect your lordship? That were a
negligence |
= would be. |
|
72 |
no less than disloyalty. |
|
74 |
Eud. I much doubt that, sir; it were rather
a |
74-75: Eudora cleverly
suggests she is not worthy to marry |
presumption to take him, being of the blood
viceroyal. |
Rebus, with his supposedly high-class
bloodline. |
|
76 |
||
Reb. Not at all, being offered, madam. |
= ie. "since I am
offering myself to you". |
|
78 |
||
Eud. But offered ware is not so sweet, you
know. |
79: proverbial:
"proffered service stinketh."7 |
|
80 |
They are the graces of the Viceroy that woo
me, not |
|
your lordship's, and I conceive it should be
neither |
81-83: I
conceive…favours = "I imagine you would not be |
|
82 |
honour nor pleasure to you to be taken in for
another |
satisfied to know that I married you
solely because of |
man's favours. |
your kinship to a man with the status
and qualities of |
|
84 |
||
Reb. Taken in, madam? You speak as I had
no house |
85-86: with taken
in in line 82, Eudora meant "received" or |
|
86 |
to hide my head in. |
"embraced", but Rebus, without
genuine humour, plays |
on the phrase's alternate meaning
of "admitted as a |
||
88 |
Eud. I have heard so indeed, my lord, unless it
be |
|
another man's. |
||
90 |
||
Reb. You have heard untruth then; these lords
can well |
||
92 |
witness I can want no houses. |
= lack. |
94 |
Hiar. Nor palaces, neither, my lord! |
|
96 |
Psor. Nor courts neither! |
|
98 |
Eud. Nor temples, I think, neither; I believe we shall |
|
have a god of him. |
||
100 |
||
Enter Tharsalio. |
||
102 |
||
Arg. See the bold fellow! Whither will you, sir?
|
103: the servant Argus
stops Tharsalio as he attempts to |
|
104 |
approach Eudora. |
|
Thar. Away! − All honour to you, madam! |
||
106 |
||
Eud. How now, base companion? |
= low fellow; companion
was a term of contempt.13 |
|
108 |
||
Thar. Base, madam? He's not base that fights
as high |
= the sense is
"strives (for)".4 |
|
110 |
as your lips. |
|
112 |
Eud. And does that beseem my servant? |
112: "and is that
fitting behavior for one who was once my servant?" Eudora reminds
Tharsalio (not for the last time) of his modest past, as he had served as a
page in her household when her husband the governor had been alive. |
|
||
114 |
Thar. Your court-servant, madam. |
= punning, with a
secondary meaning of a wooing |
116 |
Eud. One that waited on my board? |
= ie. served her
dinner table. |
118 |
Thar. That was only a preparation to my weight
on |
= punning on wait,
and not the last time Tharsalio will be |
your bed, madam. |
rather risqué with the countess. |
|
120 |
||
Eud. How dar'st thou come to me with such a
thought? |
||
122 |
||
Thar. Come to you, madam? I dare come to you at |
||
124 |
midnight,
and bid defiance to the proudest spirit that |
= ie. for a sexual
encounter. |
haunts these your loved shadows, and would any
way |
||
126 |
make terrible the access of my love to you. |
= make difficult, ie.
obstruct.1 |
128 |
Eud. Love me? Love my dog! |
128: a common
proverbial phrase: "if you love me, you must |
love everything about me."7 |
||
130 |
Thar. I am bound to that by the proverb, madam. |
|
132 |
Eud. Kennel without with him; intrude not
here. What |
= "toss him in
the gutter (kennel)": kennel also already |
is it thou presum'st on? |
had its modern meaning of
"doghouse", so Eudora's line |
|
134 |
is a pun. |
|
Thar. On your judgment, madam, to choose a
man, |
||
136 |
and not a giant; as these are that come
with titles and |
= ie. "unlike
these other guys here who", referring to Rebus |
authority, as they would conquer or ravish
you. But I |
and friends. |
|
138 |
come to you with the liberal and ingenuous
graces, love, |
|
youth, and gentry; which (in no more
deformed a person |
= ie. the status of
gentleman. |
|
140 |
than myself) deserve any princess. |
|
142 |
Eud. In your saucy opinion, sir, and sirrah
too! Get |
= common address form
used towards servants, again |
gone, and let this malapert humour
return thee no more, |
= impudent.2 |
|
144 |
for, afore Heaven, I'll have thee tossed in
blankets. |
= common humiliation
practiced on those who deserve |
punishment for misbehavior. |
||
146 |
Thar. In blankets, madam? You must add your
sheets, |
|
and you must be the tosser. |
||
148 |
||
Reb. Nay, then, sir, y' are as gross as
you are saucy. |
= coarse.1 |
|
150 |
||
Thar. And all one, sir, for I am neither. |
||
152 |
||
Reb. [drawing] Thou art both. |
= ie. his sword. |
|
154 |
||
Thar. Thou liest; keep up your smiter, Lord Rebus. |
155: thou =
Tharsalio and Rebus address each other with the insulting thou to
express their contempt for each other. |
|
156 |
|
|
Hiar. Usest thou thus his Altitude's
cousin? |
157: "this is how
you treat (use) the Viceroy's kinsman?" |
|
158 |
||
Reb. The place, thou know'st, protects thee. |
159: Rebus, actually a
coward, will repeatedly refuse to |
|
160 |
fight with Tharsalio, out of, so he
says, respect for |
|
Thar. Tie up your valour then till another place
turn me |
||
162 |
loose to you. You are the lord, I take it,
that wooed my |
|
great mistress here with letters from his
Altitude; which |
||
164 |
while she was reading, your lordship (to
entertain time) |
|
straddled and scaled your fingers, as you would show |
165: straddled and
scaled = to straddle is to spread apart, |
|
166 |
what an itching desire you had to get betwixt
her sheets. |
but the word is usually applied to the legs; given the rest
of the sentence, there is certainly some suggestive sense intended; to scale
means "to peel flakes from".1 |
168 |
Hiar. 'Slight, why does your lordship
endure him? |
= by God's light, a
strong oath; a statute of 1606 banned |
the explicit blaspheming use of God's
name on stage. |
||
170 |
Reb. The place, the place, my lord! |
|
172 |
Thar. Be you his attorney, sir. |
= Tharsalio asks
Hiarbas to speak for Rebus (ie. fight in his |
stead). |
||
174 |
Hiar. What would you do, sir? |
|
176 |
Thar. Make thee leap out at window at which thou |
176-7: to come in
the window was a euphemism for being a |
cam'st in. Whoreson bagpipe lords! |
= ie. long-winded talker.1
Smeak wonders if there is a swipe |
|
178 |
here at the recently-enthroned English
King James I and |
|
Eud. What rudeness is this? |
||
180 |
||
Thar. What tameness is it in you, madam, to stick
at |
= scruple or hesitate.1 |
|
182 |
the discarding of such a suitor? A lean lord,
dubbed with |
182-3: A lean
lord…others = the otherwise insignificant |
the lard of others! A diseased lord,
too, that opening |
183: diseased lord =
Tharsalio alludes to Rebus' alleged |
|
184 |
certain magic characters in an unlawful
book, up start as |
suffering from syphilis. |
many aches in's bones, as there are ouches
in's skin. |
185: aches was
pronounced "aitches" at the time, punning easily with ouches;
ouches refers to sores on the skin,1 which, along with the
aching of Rebus' bones, allude to the symptoms of his venereal
disease. |
|
186 |
Send him, mistress, to the widow your tenant,
the |
|
virtuous pandress Arsace. I perceive he has crowns
|
= Tharsalio is only
partially ironic, and not at all cruel: Arsace actually was once a prosperous
woman, but who has since fallen on hard times, and now pays rent in one of
the countess' properties, where she seems to be running a brothel. |
|
188 |
in's purse, that make him proud of a string;
let her pluck |
= the meaning of the
phrase is not entirely clear, but appears several times in English writing of
the day; the OED cites the phrase from a 1650 work, and suggests, since the
phrase is applied to a horse, that string is a shortened form of stringhalt,
a condition which causes the hind legs of a horse to contract in a spasm;
since proud can mean "sexually excited", the combination
could be highly suggestive. |
the goose therefore, and her maids
dress him. |
189: goose =
fool, referring to Rebus. |
|
190 |
||
Psor. Still, my lord, suffer him? |
= ie. "you
tolerate". |
|
192 |
||
Reb. The place, sir, believe it, the place! |
||
194 |
||
Thar. O, good Lord Rebus, the place is never like
to be |
||
196 |
yours that you need respect it so much. |
|
198 |
Eud. Thou wrong'st the noble gentleman. |
|
200 |
Thar. Noble gentleman? A tumour, an imposthume, he |
= a festering
swelling, used figuratively here, as in "swollen |
is, madam: a very hautboy, a bag-pipe,
in whom there is |
= an early oboe-like
instrument, referring again to Rebus' |
|
202 |
nothing but wind, and that none of the
sweetest |
= also meaning
flatulence, which smells none too sweet |
neither. |
(wind has been used in this way
since as far back as |
|
204 |
||
Eud. Quit the house of him
by th' head and shoulders! |
= to her servants:
"toss him out of the house". |
|
206 |
||
Thar. Thanks to your honour, madam, and my lord |
207-8: Tharsalio seems
to be mimicking Rebus. |
|
208 |
cousin, the Viceroy, shall thank you. |
|
210 |
Reb. So shall he indeed, sir. |
|
212 |
Lycus,
Arg. Will you begone, sir? |
|
214 |
Thar. Away, poor fellows! |
|
216 |
Eud. What is he made of, or what devil
sees |
= ie. Rebus; Eudora is
addressing Tharsalio here. |
Your childish and effeminate spirits in
him, |
= unmanly.1 |
|
218 |
That thus ye shun him? Free us of thy sight. |
|
Begone, or I protest thy life shall go!
|
= swear. |
|
220 |
||
Thar. Yet
shall my ghost stay still, and haunt those beauties |
= "remain here
always". |
|
222 |
And glories that have rendered it immortal. |
|
But since I see your blood runs, for the time, |
223-5: But
since…agreements = Tharsalio, with typical |
|
224 |
High in that contradiction that fore-runs |
|
Truest agreements (like the elements, |
225-6: like
the…generate = the ancient philosophers |
|
226 |
Fighting before they generate) and that
time |
226-7: that
time…worth = time must be allowed, ie. patience |
Must be attended most in things most worth, |
||
228 |
I leave your honour freely, and commend |
228-231: commend…likewise
= "I will dedicate (commend) |
That life you threaten, when you please, to be
|
my life (which you now threaten)
to your service, |
|
230 |
Adventured in your service, so your honour |
when you are ready to accept it." |
Require it likewise. |
||
232 |
||
Eud. Do
not come again. |
||
234 |
||
Thar. I'll come again, believe it, and again. |
235: "I'll be
back again and again", but perhaps also highly |
|
236 |
suggestive, as the vulgar sense of come
appears to have |
|
[Exit.] |
||
238 |
||
Eud. If he shall dare to come again, I charge
you |
= direct. |
|
240 |
Shut doors upon him. |
|
242 |
Arg. You must shut them,
madam, |
|
To all men else then, if it please your
honour; |
= common formula of
submissive deference. |
|
244 |
For if that any enter, he'll be one. |
|
246 |
Eud. I hope, wise sir, a guard will keep him
out. |
|
248 |
Arg. Afore Heaven, not a guard, an't please your
|
248: Argus likely
emphasizes a in a guard, as in "only |
honour! |
one guard?" Argus, a coward,
worries that he alone is |
|
250 |
||
Eud. Thou liest, base ass; one man enforce a
guard? |
= "how can one
man force (enforce) his way past a guard?" |
|
252 |
I'll turn ye all away, by our isle's goddess, |
|
If he but set a foot within my gates. |
||
254 |
||
Psor. Your honour shall do well to have him
poisoned. |
||
256 |
||
Hiar. Or begged of your cousin the
Viceroy. |
= begging was
an English legal procedure in which a person |
|
258 |
could apply to take
wardship of an orphan or a mental incompetent, and thus control the ward's
property; such a system was easily abused, and was to be abolished in England
in 1660. |
|
[Exeunt.] |
||
ACT I, SCENE III. |
||
Before the House of Eudora. |
||
Lysander, from his stand. |
= Lysander's secret
viewing area, apparently located outside |
|
|
||
1 |
Lys. This braving wooer hath the
success expected; |
= daring. = that is, no success at all. |
2 |
the favour I obtained made me witness to the sport,
|
= entertainment. |
and let his confidence be sure, I'll give
it him home. |
= "let him know
about it": Lysander intends to tease his |
|
4 |
The news by this is blown through the
four quarters of |
= by now. |
the city. Alas, good confidence! But the
happiness is, |
||
6 |
he has a forehead of proof; the stain
shall never stick |
6: forehead of
proof = an audacious invulnerability;1 the |
there, whatsoever his reproach be. |
sense is, he has no sense of shame or
defeat. |
|
8 |
6-7: the stain…reproach be = no
amount of disgrace |
|
Enter Tharsalio. |
||
10 |
||
[Aside] What, in discourse? |
11: Lysander notices
that Tharsalio is talking to himself; |
|
12 |
Elizabethan characters
frequently express their inner thoughts aloud, for the convenience of both
the audience and eavesdropping characters. |
|
Thar. Hell and the Furies take this vile
encounter! |
||
14 |
Who would imagine this Saturnian peacock |
= the peacock
was sacred to Juno, the queen of the gods, |
Could be so barbarous to use a spirit |
= treat. |
|
16 |
Of my erection with such low respect? |
= height (referring to
his spirit), with obvious suggestive- |
'Fore Heaven, it cuts my gall; but
I'll dissemble it. |
= spirit capable of
resenting insult.1 =
despite the repulse, |
|
18 |
Tharsalio will act as if he is not
discouraged at all. |
|
Lys. What, my noble lord? |
||
20 |
||
Thar. Well, sir, that may be yet, and means to
be. |
||
22 |
||
Lys. What means your lordship, then, to hang
that head |
23-24: to
hang…erected = Lysander continues the double- |
|
24 |
that hath been so erected; it knocks, sir, at
your bosom |
entendre begun by Tharsalio. |
to come in and hide itself. |
= ie. from shame. |
|
26 |
||
Thar. Not a jot! |
||
28 |
||
Lys. I hope by this time it needs fear no horns.
|
= "I trust you
are not married yet"; by not being married, |
|
30 |
||
Thar. Well, sir, but yet that blessing runs not
always in |
31-32: to run in a
blood means to be a family trait; hence, |
|
32 |
a blood. |
Tharsalio is saying that being cheated
on doesn't always |
34 |
Lys. What, blanketed? O the gods! Spurned
out by |
34: blanketed?
= "have you been tossed in a blanket?" ie. |
grooms,
like a base bisogno! Thrust out by th' head and |
= servants. = beggar.1 |
|
36 |
shoulders! |
|
38 |
Thar. You do well, sir, to take your pleasure of
me. − |
38: "go ahead and
tease me." |
[Aside] I may turn tables with you ere
long. |
39: he may get his
revenge on Lysander yet for these jibes. |
|
40 |
||
Lys. What, has thy wit's fine engine
taken cold? Art |
= cleverness'.1 = ingenuity or cunning.1 |
|
42 |
stuffed in th' head? Canst answer nothing? |
|
44 |
Thar. Truth is, I like my entertainment the
better that |
44: ie. "as a
matter of fact, I prefer my treatment (from |
'twas no better. |
Eudora) this way." |
|
46 |
||
Lys. Now the gods forbid that this opinion
should run |
||
48 |
in a blood! |
|
50 |
Thar. Have not you heard this principle, “All
things by |
50-51: All things
by strife engender: the sense is generally |
strife engender”? |
that "strife is a
creative force," suggesting that conflict necessarily precedes success. |
|
52 |
||
Lys. Dogs and cats do. |
53: dogs were
associated with living a life of strife; the |
|
54 |
Roman poet Martiall,
in his tenth collection of epigrams, alluded to the "strife of
dogs". Lysander humorously alludes to the reproductive habits of dogs
and cats. |
|
Thar. And men and women too. |
||
56 |
||
Lys. Well, brother, in earnest, you have
now set your |
= "seriously
now". |
|
58 |
confidence to school, from whence I hope't has
brought |
|
home such a lesson as will instruct his master
never |
||
60 |
after to begin such attempts as end in
laughter. |
= ie. Tharsalio's
failure is a source of amusement for those |
62 |
Thar. Well, sir, you lesson my confidence
still; I pray |
= meaning both (1)
instruct, and (2) admonish.1 |
heavens your confidence have not more shallow
ground |
62-64: I pray…so: Tharsalio's
revenge begins: he |
|
64 |
(for that I know) than mine you reprehend so. |
plants the first seed of doubt in
Lysander's mind that he |
should not be so confident in the
fidelity of his wife, |
||
66 |
Lys. My confidence? In what? |
|
68 |
Thar. May be you trust too much. |
|
70 |
Lys. Wherein? |
|
72 |
Thar. In human frailty. |
72: frailty was
used to suggest female weakness of the flesh. |
74 |
Lys. Why, brother, know you aught that
may impeach |
= anything. |
my confidence, as this success may yours? Hath
your |
75f : Hath
your… = Lysander takes the bait. |
|
76 |
observation discovered any such frailty in my
wife (for |
|
that is your aim I know) then let me know it. |
||
78 |
||
Thar. Good, good! Nay, brother, I write no
books of |
79: good, good! =
these words may be an aside, as Tharsa-
|
|
80 |
observations; let your confidence bear out
itself, as mine |
lio may be expressing pleasure that he
has touched a raw |
shall me. |
nerve in Lysander. |
|
82 |
||
Lys. That's scarce a brother's speech. If there
be |
83: That's
scarce…speech = "that's not how one should |
|
84 |
aught wherein your brother's good might any
way be |
|
questioned,
can you conceal it from his bosom? |
= ie. brought into
question. |
|
86 |
||
Thar. So, so! Nay, my saying was but
general. I |
87-88: Tharsalio has
not yet actually suggested anything |
|
88 |
glanced at no particular. |
specifically about Cynthia. |
Tharsalio's "So, so!" may
be an aside, as was "Good, |
||
90 |
Lys. Then must I press you further. You spake
(as |
|
to yourself, but yet I overheard) as if you
knew some |
||
92 |
disposition of weakness where I most had fixed
my |
92-93: where
I…trust = ie. in Cynthia, his wife. |
trust. I challenge you to let me know what
'twas. |
||
94 |
||
Thar. Brother, are you wise? |
||
96 |
||
Lys. Why? |
||
98 |
||
Thar. Be ignorant. Did you never hear of Actӕon?
|
= a mythological youth
who accidentally stumbled across |
|
100 |
the goddess Diana
while she was naked and bathing; she turned him into a stag, and he was torn
to death by his own dogs. |
|
Lys. What then? |
||
102 |
||
Thar. Curiosity was his death. He could not be
content |
||
104 |
to adore Diana in her temple, but he must
needs dog her |
|
to her retired pleasures, and see her in her
nakedness. |
||
106 |
Do you enjoy the sole privilege of your wife's
bed? |
|
Have you no pretty Paris for your
page? No young |
107-8: Tharsalio
speculates as to whether Cynthia has any |
|
108 |
Adonis
to front you there? |
attractive young men
around her to stimulate her interest. |
|