The Two Gentlemen of Verona Read online

  Act 4 Scene 2

  4.2 Location: Milan

  3 colour pretext

  3 commending praising

  7 protest swear

  8 twits taunts/reproaches

  9 commend offer/declare

  12 quips sharp retorts

  18 crept moved quietly, stealthily

  20 creep crawl

  20 go walk upright

  21 love not here i.e. do not love Silvia

  25 I ... own i.e. it's a good thing for your sake that you made your meaning clear 26 lustily heartily

  26 Host innkeeper

  27 allicholly the Host means "melancholy"

  40 swains youths/lovers

  42 grace virtue/favor/elegance

  43 admired marveled at

  46 repair hasten

  47 of with

  55 do are

  55 likes pleases

  56 likes me not does not please me/does not love me

  58 plays false plays out of tune/is unfaithful

  58 father respectful term for an old man

  62 quick sharp (in the following line Julia plays on the sense of "lively, rapid" when she contrasts quick with slow) 63 slow heavy/not rapid

  66 jars sounds discordant

  67 change modulation (in the following line Julia plays on the sense of "fickle/unfaithful") 68 spite vexation

  69 but one thing only the same melody

  70 one ... thing a lover play only one role (play is sexually suggestive and thing puns on "vagina") 74 out ... nick beyond reckoning

  82 Saint Gregory's well has been identified as an actual well near Milan 91 will intent/desire

  92 compass yours fulfill your wishes/win your approval/gain your sexual desire 94 hie hurry

  95 subtle cunning, treacherous

  96 conceitless witless

  99 thy love i.e. Julia

  100 pale ... night i.e. the moon (associated with chastity) 102 wrongful suit dishonorable/insulting courtship

  103 by and by and for that reason/presently

  107 if even if

  112 importunacy persistent entreaties

  114 And ... I in that case, you may assume that I am too 117 hers i.e. her (Julia's) love

  118 sepulchre bury

  120 obdurate unyielding

  121 Vouchsafe permit

  125 else elsewhere

  126 shadow image/portrait (playing on the usual sense in the previous line) 127 If ... am if the image in Silvia's picture was real, you would be false to it and reduce it to mere shadowy unreality, just as you have done to me (Julia is changed from her real self through both heartbreak and disguise) 130 since ... well as it will suit your fickle nature well 137 halidom all I consider holy

  138 lies lodges

  139 house i.e. inn

  142 heaviest sorrowful/darkest

  Act 4 Scene 3

  4.3 Eglamour amour (French for "love") suggests a lover; his own lady having died, Eglamour remains devoted to the cause of true love by functioning as a knightly escort to Silvia 10 impose command

  15 remorseful compassionate

  19 Vain foolish

  24 would want to go

  26 for because

  28 repose rely

  33 still always

  39 grievances distress/sorrowful affections

  42 Recking caring

  42 betideth befalls

  43 befortune happen to

  47 cell simple dwelling

  Act 4 Scene 4

  1 play the cur play up/be knavish/behave like a dog

  2 goes hard is tough

  2 of from

  7 steps me steps (me is emphatic)

  8 trencher plate

  8 capon's chicken's

  9 keep control

  10 takes upon him undertakes

  11 a dog at adept at (puns on the literal meaning of dog) 12 take ... did plead guilty to his wrongdoing

  13 verily truly

  13 had would have

  14 thrusts me thrusts

  16 bless the mark i.e. pardon the phrase I am about to use 17 pissing while short time (literally, the time it takes to urinate) 24 wot of have learned about

  24 makes ... ado makes no more fuss

  26 stocks contraption for public punishment in which a person had their wrists and ankles confined 26 puddings sausages

  28 pillory instrument of punishment in which a person had their head and wrists confined 31 still mark always pay attention to

  32 heave up raise

  32 make water urinate

  42 jewel i.e. the pretty dog Proteus thinks Lance delivered to Silvia 43 cur dog/ill-bred fellow

  44 currish mean-spirited/snarling

  49 squirrel i.e. small dog (contemptuous)

  50 hangman boys rascally boys fit for the hangman

  56 still an end continuously (possible printer's error for "on end") 57 entertained taken into service

  60 yond yonder, the one over there, i.e. Lance

  61 behaviour bearing/manners

  62 augury discernment/prediction

  63 Witness are evidence of

  67 delivered who gave

  68 leave part with/forsake

  81 therewithal with it

  89 poor fool Julia refers to herself

  96 To ... obtain i.e. Silvia's love (for Proteus)

  99 true-confirmed truly established/legitimate/declared

  103 speed succeed

  104 mean means/agent

  106 if ... she if I am indeed Silvia

  116 fit his chamber suit his room

  118 unadvised inadvertently

  123 hold wait a moment

  125 protestations declarations (of love)

  126 newfound recently invented

  132 profaned abused/treated irreverently

  136 tender care for/esteem

  149 sun-expelling mask mask worn by a lady to protect her complexion from the sun 151 pinched the lily-tincture eroded the lily-white color 152 as ... I Julia may have besmirched her face as part of her disguise 154 stature height

  154 Pentecost Whitsun, Christian festival held on the seventh Sunday after Easter 155 pageants of delight enjoyable plays/entertainments

  157 trimmed dressed up

  161 a-good in earnest

  163 Ariadne ... flight in Greek mythology Ariadne was abandoned by her lover Theseus despite the fact that she had helped him to escape from the labyrinth that contained the beastly Minotaur 163 passioning passionately sorrowing

  165 lively in a lifelike way/convincingly

  169 beholding indebted

  176 mild gracious, kind

  177 suit ... cold wooing (of Silvia) will be in vain/received coldly 178 my mistress i.e. Julia herself

  181 tire headdress

  187 periwig wig

  189 as high the same height as (i.e. no lower than) hers 190 respects values/admires

  191 respective worthy of respect

  193 shadow the disguised/heartbroken Julia

  193 take ... up pick up this picture/take on this rival 194 senseless form unconscious image

  197 statue i.e. an idol

  197 stead place

  198 use treat

  199 Jove king of the gods

  Act 5 Scene 1

  5.1 Location: outside the city

  1 gild tinge with gold

  4 break not hours do not fail to keep meetings

  5 before their time early

  6 expedition speedy action

  8 Amen, amen i.e. amen to that/yes indeed

  9 postern side or back gate

  10 attended followed

  11 three leagues about nine miles

  12 recover reach

  12 sure secure

  Act 5 Scene 2

  5.2 Location: Milan

  2 milder more gracious, gentler

  3 person physical appearance

  5 little thin

  7 spurred urged on (plays on the idea of the spurs of a riding-boot) 9 fair attractive/pale-complexioned/effeminater />
  10 wanton willful, capricious woman

  10 black tanned

  13 pearls cataracts/syphilitic sores

  13 put out make useless

  13 eyes eyes/vaginas (syphilis infected both the eyes and the genitals) 16 Ill ... war i.e. she does not like it when you talk of violence/your talk of war only reminds her of your inadequacy for masculine pursuits 18 hold your peace remain silent

  20 makes has

  22 birth noble ancestry

  23 derived descended

  26 pities is concerned for/considers pitiful

  28 owe own

  29 out by lease rented out/not entirely in one's possession 40 Friar Laurence possibly a slip for Friar Patrick, the friar at whose cell Silvia and Eglamour met, though conceivably another friar is being referred to 42 Him i.e. Eglamour

  43 being masked she having on a mask

  45 even evening

  47 stand delay

  48 mount you rise up/get on horseback

  51 Dispatch hurry up

  53 flies her fortune flees her good fortune (i.e. Turio's courtship) 55 reckless uncaring

  Act 5 Scene 3

  5.3 Location: wilderness/forest

  3 more mischances greater misfortunes

  4 brook endure

  8 Moyses and Valerius i.e. two of the outlaws ("Moyses" is a form of "Moses") 11 beset surrounded/beseiged

  Act 5 Scene 4

  1 use custom

  2 desert deserted place

  5 complaining sorrowing

  6 record sing

  8 mansion i.e. his breast, love's dwelling place 11 Repair revive (plays on the senses "reconstruct" and "return") 12 nymph beautiful one/semi-divine being

  13 hallowing shouting

  15 Have who have

  17 from from committing

  20 respect value

  20 aught anything

  21 him i.e. the First Outlaw

  22 forced ... love i.e. sexually assaulted/raped you 23 Vouchsafe grant

  23 meed reward

  23 fair favorable/beautiful

  24 boon favor

  31 approach loving advances

  37 tender precious

  38 full just

  40 solicit urge/chase after favors

  41 action course of action/fighting

  43 still approved continually tested/proven

  47 rend tear up

  47 faith promises, fidelity

  50 thou'dst two i.e. you are somehow able to be a faithful lover to two women at once 53 counterfeit ... friend false imitation of a true friend like Valentine 55 respects takes into consideration

  57 spirit nature/breath of air (this latter sense, picked up on in moving, implies proximity between Silvia and Proteus) 57 moving wooing/stirring

  58 form manner of behaving/appearance

  59 at arms' end at sword's point/with my penis 63 uncivil uncivilized, brutish

  64 ill fashion wicked sort

  66 common commonplace (i.e. showing no special qualities of friendship) 68 beguiled deceived

  71 right hand i.e. his closest friend, Proteus

  74 count consider

  75 private personal/internal

  77 confounds overcomes

  80 tender't offer it

  81 commit do wrong

  83 receive thee regard you as

  84 Who he who

  85 nor neither

  85 these i.e. heaven and earth

  86 penitence repentance

  86 th'Eternal's God's

  87 love i.e. friendship

  87 free generous

  91 wag lad

  93 charged instructed

  99 cry you mercy forgive me

  101 depart departure (from Verona)

  106 gave aim was the object of

  107 entertained received

  108 cleft the root split the bottom of my heart

  109 habit outfit (Julia's page disguise; also puns on the sense of "behavior") 111 raiment clothing

  111 if ... love if it is in fact shameful to disguise oneself for love/if you can feel shame, being a false lover 113 It ... minds propriety considers it less disgraceful for women to disguise themselves than for men to be unfaithful 118 Inconstancy ... begins unfaithful passions drop away even before they begin 128 disgraced dishonored (plays on the sense of "out of favor") 132 give move

  133 measure range

  135 hold protect ("Verona" may be a slip for "Milan," which is Turio's home) 143 means efforts

  144 slight conditions insubstantial grounds

  149 repeal recall

  150 Plead ... merit argue that there is a new state of affairs now that you have shown your superior deserving 151 subscribe bear witness/acknowledge

  158 kept withal lived with

  163 employment service

  165 Dispose of make arrangements for

  165 as ... deserts in accordance with their deservings 166 include all jars bring to an end, shut up all discord 167 triumphs festivities

  167 rare solemnity marvelous celebration

  171 grace virtue/charm

  172 grace ideal female beauty

  175 fortuned come to pass