Much Ado About Nothing

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Much Ado About Nothing Page 23

by William Shakespeare


  159 curiously skillfully

  160 woodcock a bird associated with stupidity

  161 ambles strolls (as opposed to moving rapidly)

  easily in a state of ease/unhurriedly

  163 fine excellent (Beatrice’s response plays on the senses of “marvelously” and “slender”)

  wit plays on the sense of “penis”

  167 wise gentleman either said with irony or meaning “old fool”

  hath the tongues can speak foreign languages

  169 forswore swore against/denied

  170 double twofold/duplicitous

  171 transshape transform

  172 properest most handsome/finest

  177 old man’s daughter i.e. Hero

  179 God…garden an allusion both to Benedick hiding in the arbor and to Adam, after his transgression, hiding from God in the Garden of Eden

  181 But…man Don Pedro and Claudio recall Benedick’s earlier statement that this is to be his fate if he marries

  187 braggarts…blades i.e. as boasters damage or break their swords themselves to make it look as if they have been fighting

  188 My lord i.e. Don Pedro

  199 hose breeches

  200 He…man he (i.e. one who has left off his wit) is then a hero (giant) in the eyes of a fool (ape), but in fact the fool is a learned person (doctor) in comparison to him

  202 soft you wait a moment

  pluck up rouse/collect yourself

  203 sad serious

  205 reasons plays on “raisins,” then pronounced in a similar manner

  balance scales, which Justice is traditionally depicted as carrying

  206 cursing swearing, or Dogberry may mean “accursed”

  209 Hearken inquire

  211 false report slander/untruths

  213 slanders Dogberry means “slanderers”

  219 division logical order

  222 bound on the way/tied up

  answer trial

  cunning ingenious/knowledgeable

  229 incensed incited

  243 semblance image

  244 plaintiffs Dogberry means “defendants” (a plaintiff is a complainant)

  245 reformed malapropism for “informed”

  258 honourable men i.e. Don Pedro and Claudio

  265 Impose me to impose on me

  274 Possess inform

  276 aught at all, to any extent

  invention inventiveness/imagination

  284 right puns on “rite”

  288 dispose you may dispose

  293 packed implicated/acting as an accomplice

  299 under…black in writing

  302 they…it Dogberry’s misunderstanding of the First Watchman’s claim that Deformed wears a lock

  304 in God’s name the usual plea of a beggar

  312 God…foundation! the usual response of one receiving alms from a charitable foundation

  318 give you Dogberry means “ask your”

  319 prohibit Dogberry means “permit”

  322 look for expect

  326 lewd wicked/base

  2 the speech of speak with

  5 style poetic style (puns on “stile”)

  6 come over surpass/surmount (Margaret plays on the sense of “mount sexually”)

  comely proper/pleasing

  8 keep below stairs remain (unmarried) in the servants’ quarters

  10 catches seizes (its prey)

  11 foils swords with blunt edges

  14 give…bucklers surrender

  16 swords with phallic connotations

  bucklers small shields with spikes in their centers/vaginas

  18 pikes the shield’s spikes/penises

  vice screw (with sexual connotations)

  21 come a possible pun on “orgasm”

  22 The…deserve the lyrics to a well-known Elizabethan song

  25 How…singing how much pity I deserve for my poor singing

  26 Leander…swimmer Leander regularly swam across the Hellespont to see his lover Hero, until one night he drowned

  27 Troilus…panders Troilus was helped in his love affair with Cressida by the go-between (pander) Pandarus, though Cressida eventually rejected him

  28 quondam carpet-mongers former ladies’ men

  33 innocent simple/ foolish

  hard poor/erect (playing on the phallic connotations of horn)

  36 festival merry/ lighthearted/celebratory

  41 that I came that which I came for

  45 noisome noxious

  50 subscribe state/declare in writing

  53 politic prudent

  56 suffer experience/permit (Benedick puns on the senses of “feel pain” and “endure”)

  61 friend lover

  63 confession statement/declaration/ admission

  65 instance saying/argument

  66 time…neighbours good old days (when neighbors were friendly)

  67 tomb i.e. memorial

  monuments memory

  68 bells…weeps i.e. the duration of the funeral and mourning period

  70 Question you have asked a question, here follows the answer

  clamour noise of the bells

  71 rheum tears

  Don…conscience conscience was often imaged as a gnawing worm

  82 old coil great turmoil

  87 die puns on the sense of “orgasm”

  88 eyes puns on the sense of “vagina”

  5 guerdon recompense

  6 fame renown/reputation

  12 goddess…night Diana, goddess of the moon and of chastity

  13 virgin knight i.e. her follower, Hero

  26 wheels of Phoebus wheels of the chariot of Phoebus, the sun god

  30 weeds clothes

  32 Hymen god of marriage

  speed’s speed us (i.e. make us prosper)

  3 Upon as a result of

  debated discussed

  5 against her will unintentionally

  6 question questioning/investigation

  8 else otherwise

  faith i.e. his promise to Beatrice

  9 reckoning settling of accounts (i.e. a duel)

  17 confirmed countenance resolute appearance/demeanor

  20 undo ruin/untie

  28 for as for

  is is that

  38 Ethiope Ethiopian

  45 Europa Europe

  46 Europa…love in the form of a bull Jove carried off the princess Europa

  52 owe you i.e. owe you a response

  68 qualify moderate

  70 largely in full

  73 soft and fair hold on a moment

  81 cousin i.e. Hero

  87 cousin Beatrice is his niece but cousin could refer to any relative

  100 in a consumption wasting away

  103 college assembly/fellowship

  104 flout mock

  106 shall…him i.e. for fear of attracting attention or having his dress sense mocked

  110 giddy unstable/flighty

  112 like likely

  115 cudgelled beaten

  116 double-dealer married man/unfaithful husband

  119 lighten…heels make our wives’ heels nimble through dancing/make our wives sexually eager

  123 sad grave/mournful

  no…horn another reference to cuckoldry

  128 brave fine

 

 

 


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