The Comedy of Errors Page 18
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