The Comedy of Errors Read online

  22 bass-viol ... case cello-like instrument in a leather holder 23 sob cry/rest (given to horses)

  23 'rests them arrests them/lets them rest

  24 decayed ruined

  24 suits of durance long confinement/durable clothing 25 sets ... rest gambles all (puns on "arrest")

  26 mace staff, symbol of office

  26 morris-pike spear-like weapon

  28 band band of officers

  29 it for it

  29 band legal bond

  31 rest repose/arrest

  32 rest in cease

  36 tarry ... hoy wait for a small coastal vessel (ironically named since a "hoy" was intended for fast sailing) 37 angels gold coins (puns on sense of "celestial beings") 38 distract mad

  44 avoid away

  47 dam mother

  48 habit clothing, appearance

  48 light loose

  52 burn infect with venereal disease/burn in hell

  52 Ergo "therefore" (Latin) 54 mend complete

  54 here perhaps at her lodgings

  55 spoon-meat soft food served on a spoon, baby food 56 bespeak request

  58 he ... devil proverbial

  60 what why

  61 you are all i.e. all Ephesians

  64 for in exchange for

  66 ask i.e. in return for leaving people alone 66 parings clippings

  67 rush straw

  69 an if if

  73 Avaunt go

  74 peacock traditionally an emblem of pride so hardly in a position to tell others to avoid it; Dromio makes a sarcastic reference to the courtesan's request for Antipholus to be faithful 76 demean conduct

  81 rage anger/insanity

  84 Belike probably

  86 home directly

  88 perforce by force

  89 fittest choose consider the most appropriate

  Act 4 Scene 4

  3 warrant ... for i.e. as much as the sum for which I have been arrested 4 wayward perverse, willful

  5 lightly readily, easily

  6 attached arrested

  10 pay i.e. with a beating

  14 serve ... rate provide you with five hundred ropes for that price 15 end purpose

  16 To for

  18 to ... you in that way shall I receive you (i.e. with a beating; end puns on sense of "backside") 22 hold his hands restrain his fists

  23 whoreson son of a whore

  26 sensible in responsive to

  27 ass may pun on "arse"

  29 long ears plays on the similar pronunciation of "ears" and "years"

  35 wont her brat habitually carries her child

  39 respice finem "think on your end," i.e. death (Latin) 40 prophecy ... parrot parrots might be taught to say "respice funem"-- i.e. "consider the hangman's rope," a sinister prophecy

  42 still incessantly

  45 Doctor his academic title, not indicative of medical qualifications 45 conjurer i.e. versed in Latin and therefore capable of exorcising devils (traditionally addressed in Latin) 46 true sense right mind

  47 please satisfy, reward

  48 sharp angry

  49 ecstasy frenzy

  56 doting foolish

  58 customers (whore's) clients

  59 companion rogue

  59 saffron yellow

  67 sooth truth

  69 Perdie by God (from French, par Dieu)

  71 Sans fable without a lie

  73 Certes certainly

  73 kitchen-vestal kitchen maid (ironic; the Vestal Virgins were in charge of the sacred fire in the Roman temple of Vesta) 75 verity truth

  77 soothe humor

  77 contraries fabrications

  78 fellow i.e. Dromio

  78 finds his vein knows his master's mood

  79 yielding to pretending to agree with

  80 suborned bribed

  83 Heart ... might you might have sent good wishes

  84 rag farthing, scrap

  91 deadly deathly

  93 forth out

  98 Dissembling deceitful

  100 confederate conspiring

  100 pack group

  101 abject scorn contemptible mockery

  103.1 strives struggles 105 More company get more help

  109 make a rescue i.e. take me forcibly out of legal custody 112 frantic deranged

  113 peevish idiotic/spiteful

  115 displeasure wrong

  118 discharge settle with

  120 knowing ... grows when I know what the total of the debt amounts to 124 entered in bond tied up (plays on legal sense of "pledged as a guarantor") 125 mad incite

  126 cry 'The devil!' cry out on/invoke the devil (that is supposed to have possessed you) 135 bespeak commission

  142 hereof of this

  142 at large in full

  144 naked unsheathed

  148 would be claimed/tried to be

  149 stuff belongings

  152 us fair to us courteously

  154 claims demands

  155 still always

  Act 5 Scene 1

  2 of from

  5 reverend respected

  8 His ... time I would let him borrow against my name anytime/I would lend him my wealth with only his word as guarantee 10 self same

  11 forswore denied

  16 circumstance detailed argument

  18 Beside besides

  18 charge cost/public accusation

  20 staying on delaying because of our dispute

  27 Fie shame

  28 resort dwell/walk

  29 impeach accuse

  31 presently immediately

  31 stand defend yourself

  34 within him close to him, within his guard

  36 take take refuge in

  37 spoiled ruined/beaten

  43 draw i.e. a sword

  45 heavy gloomy

  45 sour sullen

  45 sad serious

  51 Strayed led astray

  51 unlawful illicit, unfaithful

  57 reprehended rebuked

  61 Haply perhaps

  62 assemblies public

  64 copy ... conference theme of our conversation

  66 board table

  67 Alone ... theme it was my only topic of conversation 68 glanced touched on

  69 Still continually

  70 thereof ... mad and as a result the man became mad 71 venom clamours venomous protests

  73 railing complaining

  74 light wild/lecherous

  79 sports entertainments

  83 her i.e. despair's

  84 distemperatures disorders

  85 life-preserving rest sleep

  86 mad or make mad either

  88 of of his

  90 demeaned behaved

  90 rude harshly

  92 betray ... reproof expose me to my own rebuke/disgrace 96 sanctuary criminals were immune from legal prosecution while they were in churches 97 privilege protect

  99 lose my labour exhaust myself/waste my efforts

  99 assaying attempting

  101 Diet attend to, feed

  101 office duty

  102 attorney representative

  105 approved proven, tested

  107 formal complete

  108 branch part

  119 perforce forcibly

  120 this this time

  120 dial sundial, timepiece

  121 Anon soon

  123 sorry pitiable/vile

  127 put arrived, docked

  131.1 bareheaded i.e. ready for execution 131.1 Headsman executioner 134 tender value, pity

  140 important urgent

  140 letters formal requests, instructions (perhaps Adriana is a former ward of the duke's) 141 outrageous fierce

  142 desp'rately recklessly/madly

  143 bondman servant

  144 displeasure wrong

  145 bearing thence taking away

  148 take order make reparations, deal with

  150 wot know

  154 bent intent/turned

  159 suffer
permit

  162 borne ... help taken away for treatment

  164 engaged pledged

  166 grace favor

  169 determine settle

  169 stir move on

  170 shift flee

  172 a-row one after the other

  173 brands torches

  175 puddle mire murky water

  177 nicks ... fool cuts his hair so that he resembles a fool 178 sure certainly

  184 take take hold of

  187 halberds long-handled weapon with an ax-like head 189 is borne about moves around/is transported

  191 past ... reason inconceivably

  194 bestrid thee stood over you (when you were threatened) 197 dote deranged

  202 strength ... injury most harmful and offensive way possible 205 Discover reveal

  207 harlots the term could be applied to men and women 210 So ... withal may my soul be punished if what he accuses me of is not false 212 on at

  214 forsworn perjured, lying

  215 chargeth accuses

  216 advised rational in

  218 heady-rash irrational, reckless

  219 Albeit ... mad although the wrongs inflicted on me are enough to make someone wiser mad 221 packed complicit

  222 witness bear witness to

  229 swear me down reduce me to silence by swearing/refute me in swearing 233 peasant servant

  234 certain a certain amount of

  235 bespoke asked

  237 By on

  237 rabble more further mob

  239 hungry emaciated

  240 anatomy skeleton

  240 mountebank quack doctor

  241 threadbare impoverished

  241 juggler sorcerer, illusionist

  242 needy poor/inadequate

  242 sharp-looking hungry-looking

  243 pernicious ruinous

  244 Forsooth in truth

  244 took ... as assumed the role of

  244 conjurer exorcist

  246 with ... me despite being so emaciated he appeared to have no face, he confronted me with his stare 249 dankish dank, damp

  249 vault cellar, storeroom

  251 sunder two

  271 impeach charge

  272 Circe's cup in Homer's Odyssey Circe is the sorceress who changed men into beasts with a charmed drink 274 coldly rationally

  283 mated bewildered

  284 vouchsafe permit

  285 Haply through chance

  289 bondman plays on the fact that the men were bound together 294 Ourselves ... you we recognize ourselves in your situation 297 strange as a stranger

  300 careful full of anxiety

  300 deformed disfiguring

  301 defeatures deformities/changes

  303 Neither nor that either

  308 bound plays on the fact that Egeon is tied up

  310 cracked ... tongue aged and distorted my voice 311 seven short years a slip; in Act 1, Egeon stated that he had been traveling for five years 312 feeble ... cares weak tone of my cracked voice 313 grained wrinkled

  314 sap-consuming ... snow i.e. the white hairs of his beard 315 conduits veins

  316 night of life old age

  317 wasting lamps i.e. eyes

  322 But only

  334 genius attendant spirit thought to accompany and influence a man throughout his life 336 deciphers distinguishes

  345 at a burden in one birth

  348 morning story i.e. the narrative related by Egeon in Act 1

  348 right precisely

  350 semblance appearance

  351 urging of focusing on

  359 rude violent

  366 Stay wait

  370 Duke Menaphon not mentioned elsewhere; the name appears in Marlowe's Tamburlaine (1587) and Greene's Menaphon (1589) 378 leisure opportunity

  389 still repeatedly

  391 are arose did arise

  395 cheer entertainment

  400 sympathized shared

  402 satisfaction explanation/reparation

  403 but ... travail still been in labor

  407 calendars ... nativity i.e. the Dromios, who were born on the same day 408 gossips' godparents' (i.e. christening)

  408 joy enjoy

  410 gossip at participate in/converse at

  412 embarked loaded on the ship

  413 at host at the inn

  417 friend lover

  418 kitchened me entertained me in the kitchen

  419 sister sister-in-law

  420 glass mirror

  425 cuts lots