49 of due to
51 If ... mortal i.e. if resisted, overabundant grief quickly dies 53 holy sacred/respected
54 How ... that? What does that mean? (some editors suppose the line is displaced and that it may be a response to Helen or the Countess, not Bertram) 56 manners good conduct
56 shape physical appearance
56 Thy may thy
56 blood nobility/parentage
57 empire rule
58 birthright inherited qualities
59 able ready/powerful enough
60 power ability, potential
60 keep ... key value your friend's life as dearly as your own 61 checked rebuked
62 taxed censured
62 What whatever
62 more will wishes to give you in addition
63 pluck draw
65 unseasoned inexperienced
67 want lack
67 best i.e. best advice
68 his love my love for him
70 forged created, imagined
71 comfortable comforting, supportive
72 make much of be attentive to
73 hold maintain
73 credit reputation/honor
76 these ... him i.e. the floods of tears she is shedding because of her unrequited love for Bertram do more honor to her father's memory than did the (fewer) tears wept at his death 79 favour image, face (puns on the sense of "love token") 80 undone ruined
81 'Twere ... That it is the same as if
84 collateral parallel but distant
85 sphere orbit (heavenly bodies were thought to be surrounded by hollow spheres that produced beautiful music as they rotated) 87 hind female deer (puns on sense of "servant")
88 pretty pleasing
90 hawking sharp, keen
91 table notebook, drawing tablet
91 capable appreciative, sensitive
92 trick distinguishing feature
92 favour face
93 fancy love/infatuation
94 relics i.e. memory
94 Parolles i.e. "words," from French paroles
95 his i.e. Bertram's
97 great way complete
97 solely wholly
98 fixed certain, established
98 fit suitably
99 take place take precedence/are accepted
99 steely i.e. hard, uncompromising
100 Looks ... wind are left out in the cold/look pale, unappealing 100 Withal therefore
100 full oft very often
101 waiting on attending, deferring to
101 superfluous extravagant, overabundant
102 Save God save
102 queen may play on "quean" (i.e. prostitute)
107 stain hint/taint
109 barricado barricade
110 Keep ensure he stays (plays on the sense of "build a fortified tower") 112 Unfold reveal
113 setting ... you besieging you (with sexual connotations) 114 undermine overthrow/dig underneath to lay mines/burrow into sexually 114 blow you up cause an explosion/make you pregnant 115 Bless (may God) protect
116 policy stratagem
118 be blown up gain an erection/have an orgasm
119 Marry by the Virgin Mary
119 blowing him down inducing his orgasm, and subsequent loss of erection 120 breach vagina/hole in defenses
120 city i.e. virginity
120 politic prudent/strategic
122 rational increase logical profit-making/an increase in rational beings through reproduction 122 got begotten, conceived
123 That that which
123 mettle substance/coinage (indistinguishable from "metal" in Shakespearean usage) 125 found i.e. duplicated in reproduction (by producing ten virgins) 125 cold chaste
127 stand for't defend it
129 in't in its defense
130 part behalf (puns on the sense of "genitals")
131 infallible certain
131 He ... virgin i.e. like a virgin who refuses to reproduce, a crime likened to suicide 133 highways ... limit traditionally suicides were buried at crossroads, in unconsecrated ground 134 desperate reckless/dangerous
134 offendress female offender
135 paring rind
136 his its
136 stomach appetite/pride
137 peevish stubborn, perverse
138 inhibited prohibited
138 canon list of Church laws
139 lose fail to profit (puns on the idea of "losing" one's virginity) 139 Out with't! Away with it!/put it out to interest 139 make itself two double in value (by increasing at rate of 10 percent per year) 140 principal initial investment
142 How what
143 it i.e. virginity
144 gloss freshness/shine
144 lying remaining unused (may play on the sense of "lying down") 145 vendible salable, marketable
145 Answer ... request respond to current consumer demand 147 suited dressed
147 unsuitable unfashionable
148 toothpick ornate toothpicks were fashionable for a period 148 wear not are not in fashion
149 pie with vaginal connotations
149 porridge stew (with vaginal connotations)
149 in your cheek i.e. as sign of increasing age 151 pears with vaginal connotations
151 eats dryly tastes dry
155 There i.e. at court
156 mother here begins a list of names and relationships found in love poetry 157 phoenix i.e. paragon, wonder (literally, mythical Arabian bird that was consumed by fire every five hundred years, then resurrected from the ashes; only one existed at a time) 161 concord harmony
161 dulcet sweet
162 disaster unlucky star
163 fond affectionate/foolish
163 adoptious adopted
163 christendoms baptismal (Christian) names
164 blinking blind
164 gossips is godparent to
165 well fortune
170 body i.e. something tangible
172 baser stars lesser fortunes
172 shut ... in confine us to
173 effects of them i.e. fulfilled wishes
174 alone must think must only think (not do)
175 Returns us thanks give us gratitude, reward 180 Mars Roman god of war
180 ay "I" in Folio, but likely to be heard by the audience as an ironic "yes" (Mars not being not known for charity) 183 under down/in a lowly position
185 predominant in the ascendant, dominant
186 retrograde moving in a contrary direction, backward 188 backward i.e. in retreat, fleeing the enemy 189 advantage tactical gain (Helen shifts the sense to "personal interest") 191 composition mixture/constitution (plays on the sense of "truce") 192 wing ability to fly swiftly/jacket's shoulder flap (may pun on the sense of "flank of troops") 192 wear fashion
194 perfect (the) complete
194 in the which i.e. in which manner
195 naturalize accustom
196 capable of receptive to/have (sexual) capacity for 197 thrust with sexual connotations
198 makes thee away sees you off
199 leisure opportunity
201 use treat/employ sexually
203 fated fateful/with power over destiny
205 designs undertakings/plans
205 dull sluggish
207 feed satisfy (my longing)
208 The across the
208 space in fortune gap in social status/difference in fortunes 209 like likes kindred affections
209 native closely related/of similar rank/natural 210 strange attempts extraordinary endeavors (to be united) 211 weigh ... sense evaluate their efforts according to common sense 213 miss fail to achieve
Act 1 Scene 2
1.2 Location: Paris
1.2 Flourish fanfare, usually accompanying a person in authority 1.2 divers various
1 Florentines people from Florence (northern Italian city, capital of Tuscany) 1 Senoys people from Siena
1 by th'e
ars at odds, fighting
3 braving defiant
6 cousin fellow monarch of
7 move urge, appeal to
8 dearest friend i.e. Austria
9 Prejudicates prejudges
10 make denial i.e. deny aid to the Florentines 12 Approved established, proved
13 credence trust
14 armed fortified (against entreaties)
15 Florence ruler of Florence
16 for as for
16 see i.e. take part in
17 service military service
18 stand serve, fight
18 part side
20 nursery training ground
20 sick longing
21 breathing and exploit active military employment
26 Frank generous
26 rather ... haste more fastidious than hasty
27 parts qualities
30 corporal soundess good physical health
32 tried tested
32 did ... service had deep knowledge of military matters 33 was Discipled of taught/was taught by
34 bravest boldest/finest/noblest
35 haggish haglike, repulsive/frosty
36 out of act down beyond action
36 repairs restores, revives
40 scorn mockery
40 return ... unnoted goes unheeded/is visited back upon them 41 Ere before
41 levity in honour lightheartedness in honorable action 42 contempt neither contempt
44 equal i.e. social equal
44 awaked provoked
45 Clock to itself true to itself, reliable, self-governing 45 true exact
46 Exception grievance/disapproval
47 hand hand of action/hand of his honor's clock, showing the appropriate time 47 Who those who
48 used treated
48 another place different (higher) rank
49 top head
51 humbled humbled himself
52 copy example/model
53 them ... backward men of today to be merely inferior 57 So ... epitaph his epitaph is nowhere so profoundly confirmed 57 approof proof, experience/approbation
60 plausive praising
61 scattered not did not disperse randomly
61 grafted cultivated deliberately
62 bear i.e. bear fruit
64 On ... heel at the conclusion and end
64 pastime entertainment, leisure activity
65 out over
66 snuff burnt-out wick/hindrance
67 apprehensive perceptive/quick-witted
69 Mere ... garments only capable of inventing new fashions 69 constancies loyalties
71 I ... too I, surviving him, also wish (plays on idea of following into death) 72 nor neither
73 were would be
73 dissolved released
74 labourers productive worker bees
76 lend show, give
76 it i.e. love
76 lack miss
82 the rest i.e. other physicians
83 several various
83 applications treatments
84 Debate contend over
84 it i.e. his health
Act 1 Scene 3
1.3 Location: Rossillion Lavatch probably from the French la vache ("the cow") 1 gentlewoman i.e. Helen
2 even your content please you
3 calendar record
4 clearness purity
5 of ... them we speak openly of our own merits
5 deservings merits, deserts
6 sirrah sir (used to a social inferior)
11 poor wretched, humble (sense then shifts to "impoverished") 12 Well i.e. go on (Lavatch shifts the sense to "satisfactory") 15 go ... world i.e. get married
15 Isbel typical name for a whore
15 woman female servant/whore
16 do act/have sex
17 needs of necessity
20 case puns on the sense of "vagina"
20 Service employment as a servant (plays on the sense of "sex") 20 heritage inheritance (for children)
22 issue ... body i.e. children
22 bairns children
25 go puns on the sense of "have sex"
26 your worship title of mock respect
27 holy i.e. sanctioned by marriage (puns on "holey," i.e. vaginal) 29 world mankind, i.e. secular people
32 repent regret marrying/atone for sex out of wedlock 35 for ... sake to keep my wife company (with suggestion of sexual activity) 37 shallow lacking in judgment
37 in of
38 do with sexual connotations
39 ears plows/has sex with/impregnates
39 land i.e. wife
39 spares my team takes the load off my sexual organs 39 gives me leave allows/enables
39 in harvest/bring in
40 crop i.e. of children
40 cuckold man with an unfaithful wife
40 drudge slave/menial worker
40 comforts pleasures (sexually)
41 cherisher nourisher/sustainer (in procreative sense) 43 ergo "therefore" (Latin)
44 what they are i.e. cuckolds
45 Charbon the Puritan meat-eating puritan (from French chair bonne: "good flesh," eaten on fast-days) 46 Poysam the Papist fish-eating Catholic (from French poisson: "fish," eaten on fast-days) 46 howsome'er howsoever/although
47 both one alike (in being cuckolds)
47 jowl dash, knock
49 ever always
49 calumnious slanderous
52 next nearest/most direct
56 kind nature, i.e. to be a cuckold (which sounds like "cuckoo") is natural 57 anon at another time
62 fair face i.e. of Helen of Troy, the most beautiful woman in the world, whose abduction by Paris caused the Trojan war 62 she perhaps Hecuba, wife of Priam
63 sacked plundered
63 Troy ancient city of West Turkey, besieged for ten years during the Trojan war 64 Fond foolishly
65 King Priam King of Troy, killed during the conflict 68 sentence maxim, wise saying
69 Among along with
72 corrupt the song presumably Lavatch has inverted the words of a well-known song; it may have originally read "Among nine good if one be bad, / There's yet nine good in ten"
75 purifying cleansing, improving
75 serve the world i.e. by consistently providing one good woman in ten 76 tithe-woman tenth woman (i.e. one in ten); the tithe was the tenth of one's farm produce able to be claimed by the parson 77 An if
78 but ... earthquake i.e. rarely
78 blazing star comet
79 mend ... well improve the odds
79 draw pull
80 one i.e. a good woman
82 That to think that
83 honesty truth/virtue
84 wear ... heart i.e. conform by hiding pride beneath an outward appearance of obedience, just as Puritans wore the prescribed Anglican surplice over the more extreme Calvinist black gown 85 forsooth in truth
89 bequeathed left (by will)/entrusted
90 advantage financial interest/additional personal benefits 90 make title lay claim
93 late recently
96 stranger sense other person's or stranger's hearing 96 matter subject, theme
98 estates stations in life
99 no i.e. unworthy of being a
99 only where qualities except where ranks
100 Dian Diana, Roman goddess of chastity, the moon, and hunting 100 suffer allow
101 surprised to be captured/attacked
102 touch feeling/expression/note
104 withal with
104 sithence since
104 loss harm
105 something somewhat
106 discharged performed
107 likelihoods indications
109 misdoubt disbelieve
109 Stall confine, lodge, hide
113 these difficulties/pangs of love
115 blood passion
116 show appearance/display
116 seal sign/confirmation
117 impressed imprinted
, stamped
119 or or rather/but
120 observe see through/note
125 Methought it seemed to me
126 start flinch
128 enwombed mine carried in my womb
129 Adoption i.e. (love for) adopted children 129 strives competes
129 nature i.e. (love for) one's own children 129 choice ... seeds we choose to graft a cutting from another plant onto our stock, and thus make it into our own 131 mother's groan i.e. in labor
133 curd curdle
135 distempered distressed/unseasonal, inclement
136 iris Greek goddess of the rainbow
136 rounds encircles
138 not i.e. not your daughter-in-law
143 note mark of distinction
143 parents ancestors
145 vassal subject/servant
149 So provided that
150 both our mothers mother of us both
151 no ... than as much as
152 can't no other can it be no other way
155 shield ensure/forbid
157 catched caught
157 fondness foolishness/affection
158 loveliness many editors emend to "loneliness" (solitary melancholy) 159 head source
159 sense perception
159 gross obvious
160 Invention (your) devising of excuse
161 Against in the face of
166 kind natural way (i.e. by weeping)
168 That ... suspected for fear that truth will be regarded with suspicion/to ensure that truth will not be guessed at 169 clew ball (of thread)
170 forswear't deny it (under oath)
170 howe'er in any case
170 charge command
171 avail benefit
178 Go not about don't be roundabout (in answering) 178 bond i.e. maternal bond
179 takes note recognizes
181 appeached informed against (you)
184 before more than
186 friends relatives
189 token sign, evidence, indication (plays on the sense of "love token") 189 presumptuous suit unwarranted aim/expectant courtship 193 captious capacious/eager to take in/deceptive
193 intenible incapable of holding
194 still continually
195 lack ... still yet do not run out of more to pour in and waste/do not run out of more to keep continuously pouring in and losing 196 Religious ardent/worshipful
198 no more nothing other (than to look on him)
199 encounter with contest, fight
201 cites confirms, acknowledges
204 herself i.e. chastity
206 lend ... lose i.e. bestow affection where it is sure of no success 207 that what
207 implies involves, seeks
208 lives ... dies i.e. in loving Bertram, Helen is doomed to eternal disappointment 212 Wherefore? Why?
213 grace God's grace
214 prescriptions ancient customs/instructions/doctor's prescriptions 216 manifest evident
217 sovereignty efficacy/healing
218 In ... them to reserve them for use with the greatest care 219 notes instructions/doctor's prescriptions
219 faculties inclusive comprehensive capabilities 220 in note recognized to be
221 approved tested, proven
222 desp'rate despairing, hopeless
223 rendered lost deemed incurable
227 conversation processes, reflections
228 Haply perhaps
230 tender offer
232 a mind the same opinion