56 blow for blow In return for their adversaries’ rhetorical blow, Ephesian Dromio and Antipholus have now landed a physical blow against the door; hence the inserted SD (Ephesian Dromio refers to knocking on the door at 58).
57 baggage worthless woman, strumpet (OED n. 6)
tell say. This unclear line may be a variation on the riposte at 52.
58 knock … ache punning on knock as copulate (OED v. 2d; see 30n.) (Wells; see Williams, Glossary, 179; also Dictionary, 2.766); cf. 121. Luce’s it makes a phallic allusion.
60 i.e. why tolerate all this shouting and pounding when the trouble-makers could be put in the stocks; and means ‘since there is’ (Wells).
60 SD2 Luce probably exits here, timed with the (perhaps simultaneous) entrance of Adriana. Some modern editors have Luce and Adriana leave together at 64, after Adriana’s last speech, on the assumption that both are above, at the window. Yet if a character reasonably departs when he or she is out of lines and out of the action, then Luce might exit now, displaced by Adriana as the conflict changes tone.
55 SD1, 2] Dyce 55 you. And] Keightley shows lacuna between you. and And 56] prose Pope2 So, come–help.] F4 subst.; So come helpe, F; So; come, help! Collier SD] Bevington4 struck] (strooke) 57, 58 SDs] Dyce 59 SD] Folg2 (Bevington4 subst.) 60 SD1] Dyce SD2] this edn
60.1 Adriana speaks presumably from an upper-floor window or balcony; cf. ‘Husband, I’ll dine above with you today’ (2.2.213 and n.). In Elizabethan SDs, above typically refers to the ‘performance space over the main platform’, often, fictionally, a ‘window’ (Dessen & Thomson, 1), or, theatrically, the stage balcony or balcony doorway. Adriana would be visible to the audience but not seen by the characters standing outside the Phoenix.
61 keeps causes (OED v. 36)
62 boys knaves (OED n.1 2)
65 ‘If you were in pain, then this knave she mentions would be in pain; i.e. she means you’ (Riv); or perhaps, ‘If you were already in pain, this “knave” insult would hurt even more’. Dromio enjoys exacerbating the injury.
66 Cf. 19–20.
fain gladly
66–8 either … neither … hither a triple rhyme (Kökeritz, 433)
67 In while (OED prep. 11b)
part depart
68 probably voiced naïvely but meant sarcastically; They refers to Balthazar and Angelo.
60.1] Collier2, Cam1 subst.; om. Rowe; Enter ADRIANA to Luce Ard2 61+ SP] (Adr., Adri.) 61 SD] Rowe 62, 64 SDs] Dyce 63 SD] Oxf 64 SD1] Dyce 64 SD2] Cam1 subst. 65 ‘knave’] Theobald subst.; knaue F 66+ SP] (Angelo., Ang.) 66 SD] Oxf
69 something … wind i.e. something wrong; proverbial (Dent, S621)
that such that
70 reinterpreting wind (69) literally (and bitterly): i.e. you would indeed comment on the cold wind if your clothing were thin (like mine).
71 *cake the still-warm dinner delicacies (OED n. 7a), or dainties, mentioned earlier (21–3); also Adriana (Ard2); cf. TS 1.1.108–9, TC 1.1.14–15. Williams glosses cake as ‘a woman in her sexual capacity’, noting this occurrence (Glossary, 61). Cf. the possible reference to Luce as a fish, 53 and n. F reads ‘cake here’, but F’s two instances of ‘here’ suggest a compositorial error, especially since the first confuses the contrast between within and without.
72 mad … buck To be as ‘wild as a buck’ is to be angry (Dent, B692), but Dromio may also imply Antipholus’ response to cuckolding; cf. horn-mad (2.1.56), and buck as horned cuckold at MW 3.3.157–9. bought and sold tricked, betrayed; proverbial (Dent, B787)
73 ope open
74 Break any breaking a familiar Shakespearean formulation, often in the negative; e.g. ‘Thank me no thankings, nor proud me no prouds’ (RJ 3.5.152); cf. 77 and n.
break … pate Cf. Adriana’s similarly worded threats at 2.1.77, 2.2.224; see 1.2.65n.
75 break a word exchange words (see OED break v. 3)
words … wind ‘words uttered are made up only of breath’; proverbial (Dent, W833)
75–7 wind … behind … hind a triple rhyme (Kökeritz, 493)
76 so as long as; in order that. The word is playfully ambiguous.
2break i.e. break wind, pass gas; often accompanied by related stage business (Oxf1)
71 cake] Capell; cake here F; cake there White2 (anon., per Cam) 74, 77, 79 SDs] Dyce 75 you] F2; your F 76, 79 Ay] (I)
77 ‘It seems that you need a beating. Curse you, you peasant!’ Out upon expresses damning (OED out int. 2); hind means a menial or a rustic (OED n.2 1, 3), often used pejoratively (e.g. 1H4 2.3.15). Dromio quibbles on hind as ‘deer’, since breaking, besides meaning ‘beating’ (Crystal & Crystal, break n. 8; cf. 74, 1.2.79), can also mean the cutting up of a deer (OED break v. 2b); hind may also refer to the buttocks (OED n.3) as an object of beating.
79 when … fin i.e. never. No related proverb has been recorded (Ard2). In Men., Menaechmus replies angrily that the inquisitive Doctor might as well ask him if he eats ‘birds with scales and fish with feathers’ (‘auis squamosas, piscis pennatos’) (918).
80 crow crow-bar (OED n.1 5a)
81 A crow … feather confusing a crow as a crow-bar with a crow as a ‘fowl’ (see 79) and probably alluding satirically to Greene’s attack on Shakespeare, in Greene’s Groatsworth of Wit (1592), as ‘an upstart Crow, beautified with our Feathers’ (Greene, 12.144; see Appendix 1; Godman, 58–60).
82 i.e. like a fish without a fin, the crowbar will be a fowl without a feather (see OED for prep. A27).
83 pluck a crow settle our disagreement (OED crow n.1 3b), i.e. with fisticuffs; proverbial (Dent, C855)
85 Have patience later repeated by Luciana to Adriana at 4.2.16 (see n., on patience); on calls for patience, see 1.2.86n.
78 ‘Out upon thee!’] Theobald subst.; out vpon thee, F 79 fin] fin. Exit. / Bevington4 81 feather?] Collier; feather, F so?] F4; so; F 82 a feather] (afether) 83 SD] Oxf 85 so!] so, F; thus. Pope
86–8, 98–106 On reputation, see 2.1.108–12 and n.
87 compass of suspect range of suspicion (OED compass n.1 9). Balthazar launches a series of legalistic terms: Plead … cause (91), restraint (97), intrusion (103), slander … succession (105).
88 Th’unviolated honour imagining Antipholus’ prospective damaging of his wife’s reputation as a sexual assault (OED violate n. 2) and as a desecration (OED 3a)
89 Once, this ‘In brief, let me put it this way’; Once means ‘in short’ (OED adv. 4); cf. MA 1.1.318 (Ard1).
89, 91 *her instead of F’s ‘your’, to parallel Balthazar’s discussion of ‘your wife’ (88), as emended by Rowe; on the typesetting here, see Var.
90 years maturity (Ard2)
92 excuse ‘remove the blame of’ (OED v. 1b)
93 made shut; cf. AYL 4.1.161 (Ard2).
95 let us let us go (OED let v.1 14c, first citation)
the Tiger presumably an inn, although no such London inn (or brothel) has been discovered (Ard2). Shakespeare uses Tiger twice elsewhere, as a ship’s name (TN 5.1.62, Mac 1.3.7). Cf. 1.2.9n., on the Centaur.
97 restraint ‘keeping out’ (Wells); act of stopping (OED n. 2a)
99 stirring … day i.e. busy passing-by of people at this time of day (see OED passage 1d, first citation). The time is about mid-afternoon.
100 vulgar coarse (OED adj. 13); also public (OED adj. 6)
101 supposed supposèd; believed
102 ungalled estimation ungallèd; uninjured reputation, with -galled closer to wounding or goring (as at Ham 3.2.272) than to rubbing or chafing (OED gall v.1 1, 2); estimation indicates repute, or sense of worth in the opinion of others (OED n. 2b); cf. e.g. TGV 2.4.56.
89 Once, this:] Theobald subst.; Once this F her] Rowe; your F 91 her] Rowe; your F
103–4 A scandalous reputation would enter Antipholus’ grave (and body?) with the same foul intrusio
n he proposed against his own house. Adriana has earlier introduced intrusion as infection (see 2.2.185 and n.); here it also means thrusting oneself into a vacant estate or tenancy (OED n. 2a), anticipating succession at 105. Scandal and slander, like envy, were often associated with venomous serpents, and such an image may be implicit here. In Cym, slanderous serpents violate graves and dead bodies: ‘the secrets of the grave / This viperous slander enters’ (3.4.38–9). The association is biblical. In Genesis, the serpent beguiles Eve, and Satan will be linked to slander (see e.g. MW 5.5.155). Ecclesiastes, 10.1, relates that ‘A sclaunderer is like a serpent that can not be charmed’; see also Psalms, 58.3–4, 140.3–4. Cf. Sclaunder at FQ, 4.8.23–6.
103 That i.e. the supposition (101), which may become belief
105–6 Slander outlives and takes possession of its human subject, perpetuating itself from generation to generation. (On succession as a legal term, see OED n. 5b.) Like a demon, slander occupies, ‘possesses’, a body’s ‘house’ (OED possess v. 40). On possession, see 2.2.146n., on I … with. Christ tells of an unclean spirit resolved to repossess a man: ‘I wyll returne into my house’, says the spirit, and he and other spirits ‘enter in, and dwell there’ (Matthew, 12.44–5; alluded to at Tem 1.2.459–60; see also Luke, 11.24–6).
105–6 succession … possession These two rhyming lines appear to be of unequal length. For 105 to be iambic pentameter, succession must be pronounced as four syllables, potentially throwing off its rhyme with possession. One solution, perhaps the best, is to accept 105 as a short line. However, if Forever is spoken as ‘Fore’er’, or where it as ‘where’t’, the pronunciation of possession can follow either version of succession. Some editions mark housed as housèd, although F spells hows’d.
108 *wrath F’s ‘mirth’ was emended to wrath by Theobald to create a contrast. Editors retaining F gloss ‘in despite of mirth’ as either ‘despite the mockery or petty joke to which I have just been subjected’ or, less plausibly, ‘despite my normal disinclination to mirth’. Such readings diminish the implicit contrast and forfeit the drama of Antipholus’ agreement to replace anger with patience. According to Cam1, wrath written in secretary hand might have been easily misread as ‘mirth’.
merry See 3.2.183 and n.; cf. 1.2.21 and n., on merry jests.
109–10 The attributes listed are those that Adriana fears she lacks (Wells); see 2.1.88–92.
109 discourse See 2.1.90n., on Are … dull.
106 Forever] (For euer); For e’er Ard where it gets] where it once gets F2; where’t gets Steevens; where once it gets Oxf 108 wrath] Theobald; mirth F; my wife Keightley
110 witty See 2.1.90n., on wit (and OED witty adj. 7a, first citation as ‘possessing wit’).wild perhaps ‘lively’ (Wells); or ‘untamed’, in contrast to gentle; wild’s connotations include ‘licentious’ or ‘dissolute’ (OED adj. 7b, citing MW 3.2.73). The meaning seems inexact.
111–13 Antipholus denies Adriana’s suspicions, first voiced at 2.1.30, of his unfaithfulness with the Courtesan. In Men., the resident Menaechmus regularly visits the concubine Erotium’s house for both gastronomic and sexual pleasure. Likewise, the traveller Sosicles Menaechmus leaves Erotium’s house saying, ‘I had lunch, I had drinks, I lay with a prostitute’ (‘prandi, potaui, scortum accubui’) (Men., 476), or in Segal’s memorable translation, ‘I’ve wined, I’ve dined, I’ve concubined’ (Plautus, Segal, 475)
113 withal therewith (OED adv. 2)
114–19 Get … there Cf. 4.1.23 and n.
115 chain Cf. 4 and n.
this this time
116 Porpentine variant form of porcupine (also at e.g. 2H6 3.1.363, Ham 1.5.20); also at 3.2.172; 4.1.49; 5.1.222, 276. Cf. 1.2.9n., on the Centaur. The Porpentine was the name of a Bankside inn probably known to Shakespeare and his audience (Sisson, 1.93), which Cam1a calls a ‘brothel’. See 4.3.45.1 and n.
117 there’s gesturing towards the house’s stage location (Oxf1)
house perhaps with the sense of ‘brothel’ (see Williams, Glossary, 165; also Dictionary, 2.694), the meaning it has at e.g. MM 1.2.95, 2.1.162–3; Per 4.6.77, 119
117–19 That … there perhaps indicating an intention to be maritally unfaithful, if even for the first time (Cam2a); the Courtesan later mentions Antipholus’ promise of the chain (see 4.3.85 and n.). Antipholus may speak in an aside, unheard by Angelo (Wells), who will subsequently give the chain to the twin Antipholus (at 3.2.173) and tell him to take it home to his wife.
117 bestow For Antipholus’ subsequent, darker use, cf. 4.1.16 and n., on bestow.
120 doors On ‘door’ as sexual slang, see 30n., on door is locked.
121 knock On knock as sexual slang, see 58n.
110 yet, too,] Rowe3 subst.; yet too F 114 SD] Capell subst., Cam
123 expense as in money, effort or time (cf. H8 3.2.108); perhaps also ‘ejaculation’ (cf. Son 129.1)
3.2The setting is either inside or just outside the Phoenix, the house of Antipholus of Ephesus and Adriana.
0.1 *LUCIANA All editors follow (1) F2 in emending F’s ‘Iuliana’ to Luciana; and (2) Rowe in correcting F’s first SP, ‘Iulia.’, to Luciana (1); see List of Roles, 8n.
1–52 These two speeches employ iambic pentameter lines of alternating rhyme (ABABCDCD, etc.), typical of Elizabethan love sonnets. Their felicitous rhymes, placed in line- and clause-ending positions, drive home the sentiments: e.g. forgot/rot; Antipholus/ruinous. Luciana’s participation in the form may imply her susceptibility to Antipholus’ protestations. Alternating rhyme also occurs at 4.2.1–4 (see 1–6n.), 25–8, 62–5.
1–4 The action starts in mid-conversation, as if the wooing had begun while 3.1 was in progress. Luciana challenges Antipholus with a series of questions, rhetorical erotesis, that pursue the issue of proper husband–wife relations launched in 2.1 (but see 5–28n. below); also at 15–16.
2 office duty (as a husband) (OED n. 3a); see 3.1.44 and n.; 5.1.99 and n., on office.
2–3 Shall … rot Young shoots of love (OED spring n.1 9a) may eventually decay, but such rot, Luciana implies, seems unseasonable here. The reversal of love and spring(s) in word order creates rhetorical chiasmus. Cf. ‘Love’s tender spring’ (VA 656); also Luc 950 (Ard2).
3 spring springtime, as if Adriana had married only recently; see also 5.1.137–8 and n.; cf. TGV 1.3.84–5.
4 *building increasing or growing structurally (see OED build v. 3); Theobald turned F’s ‘buildings’ into the gerund building. Adriana earlier imagined herself as ruins (see 2.1.95–6 and n.). On love and building, see e.g. ‘ruin’d love when it is built anew’ (Son 119.11); TC 4.2.103.
*ruinous Capell’s emendation of F’s ‘ruinate’ allows a rhyme with Antipholus. That Shakespeare uses ‘ruinate’ elsewhere only as an infinitive or active indicative (e.g. Luc 944) suggests a compositorial error here. Cf. ‘Lest growing ruinous, the building fall’ (TGV 5.4.9) (Steevens2).
123 so;] so. Exit Angelo Oxf SD Antipholus … Syracuse.] this edn; Dromio of Syracuse within the Phoenix, and the others into the Porcupine Oxf 3.2] Pope (SCENE II.) 0.1 Enter] Enter, from the house / Dyce2 LUCIANA] F2; Iuliana, F SYRACUSE] Rowe; Siracusia F 1–52] alternating indentation as Pope 1 SP] Rowe (Luc.); Iulia. F 2 Antipholus] Antipholis, Hate, Theobald 4 building] Theobald; buildings F ruinous] Capell (Theobald); ruinate F
5–28 Luciana sounds oddly politic and devious, given her earlier conservative views about marriage (see e.g. 2.1.7–25 and n.). Wells speculates that Shakespeare is adapting from Marlowe’s translation of Ovid’s Amores, where a lover asks his beloved not to reveal her infidelities to him (see Marlowe, 2.315–16).
6 use treat (Crystal & Crystal, v. 2)
8–9 The sense of Muffle shifts (Ard2): Antipholus should (1) conceal (OED v. 1) his false (‘illegitimate’, i.e. adulterous (Crystal & Crystal adj. 6)) love from Adriana; then (2) blindfold (OED v. 2) himself, so that she cannot see it i
n his eyes, making him, in effect, a blind Cupid; cf. ‘love, whose view is muffled still’ (RJ 1.1.171).
9, 11 eye … disloyalty a rhyme (Kökeritz, 436)
10 i.e. do not let your own tongue proclaim your shameful deeds.
10, 19 shame’s, Shame See 2.1.112n.
11 fair courteously or with kindness (OED adv. 2a)
become disloyalty i.e. make disloyalty becoming, pleasing (see OED become v. 9c); cf. TS 2.1.258–9. Shakespeare puns similarly at AC 1.1.49.
12 harbinger forerunner (OED n. 3). Luciana’s injunction is to dress vice to look like virtue; proverbial (Tilley, V44) (Ard2); cf. R3 2.2.28. In Tudor morality plays, Vice-characters typically disguise themselves as Virtues.
13 Luciana proposes doing what the proverb ‘Fair face, foul heart’ (Dent, F3) (Ard2) warns against.
tainted recalling the language of moral stain at 2.2.142 (see n., on stained); cf. 16 and n., on attaint.
14 carriage bearing, deportment (OED n. 14a, first citation)
15–16 what … attaint rhetorical erotesis; see 1–4n.
15 acquainted informed (OED v. 4c, first citation)
16 simple foolish
*attaint dishonour (OED n. 6); figuratively, stain (see 13n., on tainted); also with the legal sense of criminal false witness (see OED 4); cf. KL 5.3.83–4. Rowe’s emendation preserves the rhyme (see t.n.).
15 secret-false] (secret false) 16 attaint] Rowe; attaine F
17 truant with stray from (especially school). Luciana assumes Antipholus’ infidelity.
18 at board at table, i.e. at meals
18, 20 board … word a rhyme (Kökeritz, 413)
19–20 i.e. disgrace (Shame) when hidden (managed) can allow for a counterfeit (bastard) reputation (see OED bastard adj. 4; and ‘bastard hope’ MV 3.5.7, 13), whereas exposing wrong actions (Ill deeds) only doubles their harm; evil word refers to a husband confessing infidelity, with evil as a transferred epithet. On reputation, see 2.1.108–12 and n. Folg2 cites the proverb ‘To do evil and then brag of it is a double wrong’ (cf. Tilley, T140). Ill deeds takes is (20): a plural subject can take a singular verb when the subject has a collectively singular sense (Abbott, 333; Hope, 2.1.8a); cf. 4.4.78 and n., on bones bears; 93.
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