Henry IV, Part 2

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Henry IV, Part 2 Page 26

by William Shakespeare


  imbrue stain (with blood)

  174 death…asleep quotation from a song attributed to Anne Boleyn, written as she awaited execution

  abridge shorten

  176 Untwined unravel, spin out (like the thread of a person’s life, spun by the Fates)

  Sisters Three Fates of classical mythology

  Atropos one of the Fates, who cut the thread of life after her sisters, Clotho and Lachesis, spun and unwound it

  177 toward coming up, imminent

  178 rapier lightweight sword

  181 forswear reject, give up

  keeping house inn-keeping

  182 tirrits fits of fear, upsets

  183 put…weapons sheathe, or hold back your swords (plays on the sense of “get an erection with your bare penises”)

  188 shrewd vicious, dangerous

  192 brave challenge, defy

  195 chops fat cheeks

  196 Hector of Troy leader of the Trojan army, known for his valiant and honorable nature

  Agamemnon leader of the Greek army when it opposed the Trojans

  197 Nine Worthies historical figures embodying the ideals of chivalry: three Jews (Joshua, David, and Judas Maccabaeus), three pagans (Hector of Troy, Alexander the Great, and Julius Caesar), and three Christians (Arthur, Charlemagne, and Godfrey of Bouillon)

  198 toss…blanket proverbial punishment for cowards

  200 canvass…sheets i.e. have sex with you

  canvass toss

  204 quicksilver mercury, i.e. rapidly

  205 like a church unclear; perhaps “slowly, in a stately manner/not at all”

  206 tidy fat, healthy

  Bartholomew boar-pig pig roasts were traditional at London’s St. Bartholomew’s fair (24 August)

  207 foining thrusting (with a sword; sexual connotations)

  209 death’s-head skull used as a memento mori, a reminder of the inevitability of death

  211 humour disposition

  213 pantler servant in charge of the pantry

  chipped bread cut away the hard crusts

  216 Tewkesbury mustard creamy mustard blended with horseradish, produced in the West Country town of Tewkesbury in Gloucestershire

  conceit wit, understanding, imagination

  219 legs…bigness i.e. they’re the same type (vain, fashion-conscious); men were judged by the shapeliness of their legs

  of a the same

  220 quoits game in which a metal ring was thrown at a peg fixed in the ground

  conger and fennel conger eel seasoned with fennel, difficult to digest

  221 drinks…flap-dragons plays a drinking game in which one must drink liquor with burning objects (in this case candles’ ends) floating in it flap-dragons raisins that had to be plucked from burning brandy and swallowed

  rides the wild-mare plays a game similar to leapfrog in which players land on rather than jump over others (mare plays on the sense of “whore”)

  222 jumps upon joint-stools i.e. indulges in high spirits

  joint-stools low stools made by a joiner

  223 smooth close-fitting (to show off his legs)

  224 sign of the leg sign over a bootmaker’s shop

  breeds no bate causes no dissent, rouses no disagreement

  discreet cautious, prudent (i.e. dull)

  225 gambol playful

  226 admits receives, socializes with

  227 such another the same type

  228 avoirdupois weight

  229 nave of a wheel wheel hub (puns on “knave” and on Falstaff’s rotundity)

  230 ears cut off the punishment for slandering royalty

  232 elder elder tree/old man

  poll…parrot Doll is ruffling his hair

  poll head (plays on popular name for a parrot)

  237 Saturn and Venus planets thought to govern old age and love respectively

  238 in conjunction together in the heavens (plays on the sense of “in sexual union”)

  almanac astrological calendar

  239 fiery Trigon i.e. red-faced Bardolph; signs of the zodiac were divided into four groups of three (trigons), the fiery set consisting of Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius

  240 lisping whispering/talking in a loving voice

  tables…counsel-keeper i.e. Mistress Quickly

  tables notebook (for recording secret assignations)

  242 busses kisses

  248 stuff material

  kirtle gown

  253 handsome smartly, respectably

  254 hearken the end judge by the outcome (whether I’m faithful or not), wait and see

  256 Anon coming, right away

  258 Poins his Poins’

  259 continents parts of the world/contents

  268 compound composition, piece

  269 light loose, immoral (refers to Doll)

  272 take…heat do not act now

  273 candle-mine source of animal fat for making candles

  274 honest chaste

  279 knew recognized

  284 wilful abuse deliberate slander

  299 close unite, agree

  wicked mocking the language of Puritan zealots

  301 burns…nose another reference to Bardolph’s alcoholically red face

  302 dead elm rotten old tree; the elm tree was traditionally used to support vines, and to make coffins

  303 pricked marked

  304 Lucifer’s privy-kitchen i.e. hell

  305 malt-worms drunkards

  306 outbids i.e is more influential than

  308 hell…burns i.e. has syphilis, with which she infects others

  309 owe…that Puritans considered moneylending sinful

  312 quit acquitted, forgiven/paid back

  314 suffering permitting

  flesh…eaten i.e. meat to be eaten during Lent (when it was forbidden)/prostitution to take place

  315 howl be punished/be damned

  316 victuallers innkeepers

  mutton sheep/prostitute

  319 grace title for a prince/honor, virtue

  320 says…against i.e. the polite title gentlewoman is one that the prince (or his sexual impulse) knows instinctively to be misapplied to a loose woman like Doll

  325 Westminster location of the royal court in London

  326 posts messengers

  329 Bare-headed a sign of haste; it was customary to cover the head

  333 commotion insurrection

  south south wind, thought to carry disease and storms

  334 Borne…vapour carried along with dark clouds

  337 morsel part/sexual tidbit

  338 unpicked untasted

  340 presently at once

  341 stay wait

  346 post posthaste, immediately

  350 known perhaps with sexual connotations

  351 peascod-time the time when peas ripen in the pod (plays on sense of “testicle time”)

  9 cribs hovels

  10 pallets straw mattresses

  13 state splendor

  15 vile mean, wretched, lowborn

  17 watch-case ticking watch in a case/sentry box

  common ’larum-bell public alarm bell, rung by a night watchman in an emergency

  20 rude imperious surge rough, overwhelming swell of the sea

  21 visitation violent, destructive force

  22 ruffian billows rough waves

  24 slipp’ry rapidly passing/unable to be grasped

  25 That so that

  hurly tumult, uproar

  26 partial unfair, biased/sympathetic

  27 rude rough, dangerous

  29 to boot besides

  30 happy low fortunate humble men

  32 morrows mornings

  39 foul diseased, polluted

  rank festering, gross, abundant

  41 distempered out of sorts

  43 little a little

  44 cooled calm down, regain equilibrium

  46 revolution change, movement

  47 continent dry land

  50 beach
y…ocean i.e. seashore, imaged as a belt

  51 Neptune Roman god of the sea

  chance’s mocks mockeries of fortune

  53 divers various/unfavorable

  54 Richard Richard II

  57 This Percy i.e. Northumberland

  59 under my foot at my service

  60 eyes i.e. face

  62 Neville in fact, Warwick’s name is Richard de Beauchamp, although the Earl of Warwick in 3 Henry VI is Richard Neville

  64 rated berated

  66 ‘Northumberland…throne’ for these and the other lines the king recalls, see Richard II, Act 5 Scene 1

  72 head to a head (of a boil, with play on the sense of “insurrection/army”)

  73 corruption pus (plays on the sense of “sin, destruction”)

  74 same current

  77 Figuring reproducing, depicting

  deceased past, gone by

  79 near aim accurate guess

  main chance likely outcome

  81 intreasurèd safely stored

  82 hatch and brood outcome and offspring

  83 necessary form inevitable pattern

  85 false disloyal

  91 cries out on denounces/calls for attention from

  101 A certain instance secure evidence

  Glendower leader of the Welsh rebels

  103 unseasoned late, unseasonable

  perforce of necessity

  106 inward civil

  out of hand over and done with

  107 would wish to go

  3.2 Location: Gloucestershire, west England (the home of Shallow—though Falstaff is supposed to be going from London to York and this would not be on his way) Shallow and Silence both Justices of the Peace (magistrates); Silence (from Lincolnshire?) appears to be visiting his kinsman Mouldy…Bullcalf army recruits (Folio groups their entrance at the beginning of the scene, but they could come on individually when their names are called from the roll)

  2 rood (Christ’s) cross

  5 bedfellow i.e. wife

  7 black of dark hair and/or complexion (considered less attractive than fair hair and skin)

  ouzel blackbird

  8 By…nay a mild oath

  9 Oxford Oxford University, sixty miles northwest of London

  11 Inns of Court in London where young men trained for the legal profession

  12 Clement’s Inn one of the Inns of Chancery, a step below the Inns of Court

  14 lusty lively/lustful

  16 roundly to the full

  17 Doit an appropriate name for a

  little man; a doit is a small coin of little value

  18 Pickbone a name suggestive of greed

  Squele suggests an excitable man, or one with a shrill, high-pitched voice

  Cotswold the Cotswolds are a range of hills in Gloucestershire

  19 swinge-bucklers swashbucklers, swaggerers

  20 bona-robas attractive whores

  27 Scoggin’s John Scoggin was court jester to Edward IV

  court-gate palace gates

  crack lively lad (picks up on the language of breaking)

  Sampson Stockfish ironic combination of names: Sampson is a biblical hero and stockfish is dried cod (used to suggest physical weakness and an impotent penis)

  Gray’s Inn one of the Inns of Court

  34 How what price is

  yoke of bullocks pair of young bulls

  35 Stamford town in Lincolnshire famous for horse and cattle fairs; some editors suspect that this scene is in fact located near Stamford, a more logical stopping place for Falstaff as he travels from London to York, but Shakespeare was often careless of geographical realism

  40 drew…bow was a good archer

  41 John of Gaunt Henry IV’s father; he dies in Richard II

  43 clapped … clout hit the target

  clout square of cloth marking the center

  43 twelvescore i.e. 240 yards (twelve times twenty)

  forehand shaft arrow shot directly, without the usual curved trajectory employed when shooting at distance

  44 fourteen…half i.e. 280–90 yards

  45 score twenty

  ewes female sheep

  46 Thereafter…be depending on their quality

  51 beseech seek to know

  52 esquire one ranking just below a knight

  53 justices of the peace local magistrates

  56 tall brave

  57 backsword fencing weapon with a protective basketwork hilt

  60 accommodated equipped (a fashionable word unfamiliar to the provincial Shallow)

  65 accommodo Shallow considers the word’s Latin origin

  66 phrase the term could refer to a single word

  74 just true

  79 Surecard the name means “one certain of success”

  80 in commission authorized to act as a magistrate

  83 of the peace a magistrate/silent

  86 sufficient competent

  95 friends family

  102 Prick mark down on the list

  103 pricked vexed/sour, moldy (plays on the sense of “equipped with a penis”)

  104 dame wife (possibly mother, but the sexual punning makes a wife seem more likely)

  undone at a loss

  105 do her husbandry undertake agricultural or household work/perform the sexual role of a husband

  drudgery domestic/sexual labor

  108 spent used up, consumed (plays on the sense of “sexually exhausted after orgasm”)

  111 other others, rest

  114 cold cool (like shade)/cowardly

  117 son puns on “sun”

  120 shadow reflection, image

  65 accommodo Shallow considers the word’s Latin origin

  123 serve do, suffice/perform military service

  124 shadows names of dead or imaginary men, a ruse to enable the captain of the regiment to claim their pay

  muster military recruitment

  130 ragged rough/tattered (may pun on “ragwort,” a plant thought to be an aphrodisiac)

  132apparel…pins suggesting his clothes are held together by pins, or that his physical frame is poorly put together

  (pins plays on the sense of “legs”)

  139 tailor the profession had a reputation for effeminacy as well as for lechery (“tail” plays on the sense of “sexual organs,” thus leading to renewed sexual play on prick in the following lines)

  142 pricked clothed/stabbed with a pin/penetrated sexually

  143 battle army

  144 good will best (will plays on the sense of “penis”)

  147 magnanimous brave

  148 well…deep i.e. firmly (with continued sexual play)

  151 go plays on the sense of “have sex”

  put him to enlist him as

  152 thousands i.e. vermin/lice

  157 green i.e. village green

  160 likely promising

  161 again in response

  167 ringing…affairs church bell ringing on behalf of the king

  coronation day i.e. anniversary of the coronation

  168 gown dressing gown/nightgown

  169 take such order issue instructions, arrange

  170 ring for thee ring the bells instead of you/for your funeral

  171 two…four Shallow counts six but we see only five

  174 tarry stay for

  177 Windmill probably the name of a brothel, perhaps a tavern

  St George’s Field area between Southwark and Lambeth, south of the River Thames; known for prostitution

  180 Nightwork her surname suggests her occupation as a prostitute

  183 away with endure, get on with

  186 bona-roba whore

  198 watch-word code word, password/drinking cry

  201 Corporate malapropism for “Corporal”

  stand act as

  202 Harry ten shillings shillings from the reign of Henry VII, subsequently worth only half their original value

  203 lief willingly

  206 friends family<
br />
  208 Go to i.e. very well, off you go

  212 forty i.e. shillings

  215 so so be it

  217 quit free

  229 service military/domestic/sexual service

  230 come unto it reach manhood

  232 likeliest ablest

  234 thews physique, strength

  235 assemblance appearance, frame, composition

  237 charge…you load and fire

  238 pewterer’s hammer pewter was hammered out with rapid actions

  come off and on advance and retreat/lower and raise (the gun)/stay still and act

  239 gibbets…bucket slightly unclear meaning; perhaps hangs on, carries, balances the beam (bucket) from which the brewer’s buckets are suspended

  half-faced thin

  240 mark target

  241 aim chance of hitting the target

  level aim

  243 spare men thin/surplus to requirement

  244 caliver light musket

  246 traverse march/take aim

  247 manage me handle skillfully

  249 chopped chapped, i.e. dried up

  shot marksman (possible play on sense of “animal left over after the best of the herd have been selected”)

  said done

  250 scab rascal (plays on his name)

  tester sixpence

  252 Mile-End Green East London drill ground for citizen soldiers; now Stepney Green

  253 Sir…show refers to a display of archery on Mile-End Green in which participants took the names of King Arthur’s knights of the Round Table; Shallow played Arthur’s fool

  254 quiver nimble (plays on sense of “case for arrows”)

  manage ’ he come i.e. was quick and skillful at firing, then retreating to the rear rank of musketeers in order to reload before advancing to fire once more; “

  Ra, ta, ta” is the noise of reloading and “

  Bounce” that of the shot

  261 must i.e. must go

  265 Peradventure perhaps

  267 would wish

  268 have…word meant what I said

  269 gentle noble

  271 fetch off trick, get the better of

  273 prate chatter

  275 Turnbull Street in Clerkenwell, London; known haunt of thieves and prostitutes

  duer more punctually

  276 Turk’s tribute regular tribute money due the sultan; failure to pay was punishable by death

  277 man…cheese-paring figure of a man carved idly out of the rind of cheese

  280 forlorn pitiful, meager

  281 thick dull, weak

  invincible impossible to make out; some editors emend to “invisible”

  genius spirit

  282 rearward rear

  283 Vice’s dagger thin, insubstantial wooden dagger used by the Vice character in morality plays

 

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