William Shakespeare: The Complete Works 2nd Edition (196 page)
Read William Shakespeare: The Complete Works 2nd Edition Online
Authors: William Shakespeare
Tags: #Drama, #Literary Criticism, #Shakespeare
BOOK: William Shakespeare: The Complete Works 2nd Edition
8.76Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
Have you no modesty, no maiden shame,
No touch of bashfulness? What, will you tear
Impatient answers from my gentle tongue?
Fie, fie, you counterfeit, you puppet, you!
No touch of bashfulness? What, will you tear
Impatient answers from my gentle tongue?
Fie, fie, you counterfeit, you puppet, you!
HERMIA
Puppet? Why, so! Ay, that way goes the game.
Now I perceive that she hath made compare
Between our statures; she hath urged her height,
And with her personage, her tall personage,
Her height, forsooth, she hath prevailed with him—
And are you grown so high in his esteem
Because I am so dwarfish and so low?
How low am I, thou painted maypole? Speak,
How low am I? I am not yet so low
But that my nails can reach unto thine eyes.
Now I perceive that she hath made compare
Between our statures; she hath urged her height,
And with her personage, her tall personage,
Her height, forsooth, she hath prevailed with him—
And are you grown so high in his esteem
Because I am so dwarfish and so low?
How low am I, thou painted maypole? Speak,
How low am I? I am not yet so low
But that my nails can reach unto thine eyes.
HELENA (
to Demetrius and Lysander
)
to Demetrius and Lysander
)
I pray you, though you mock me, gentlemen,
Let her not hurt me. I was never curst.
I have no gift at all in shrewishness.
I am a right maid for my cowardice.
Let her not strike me. You perhaps may think
Because she is something lower than myself
That I can match her—
Let her not hurt me. I was never curst.
I have no gift at all in shrewishness.
I am a right maid for my cowardice.
Let her not strike me. You perhaps may think
Because she is something lower than myself
That I can match her—
HERMIA Lower? Hark again.
HELENA
Good Hermia, do not be so bitter with me.
I evermore did love you, Hermia,
Did ever keep your counsels, never wronged you—
Save that in love unto Demetrius
I told him of your stealth unto this wood.
He followed you; for love I followed him.
But he hath chid me hence, and threatened me
To strike me, spurn me, nay, to kill me too.
And now, so you will let me quiet go,
To Athens will I bear my folly back,
And follow you no further. Let me go.
You see how simple and how fond I am.
I evermore did love you, Hermia,
Did ever keep your counsels, never wronged you—
Save that in love unto Demetrius
I told him of your stealth unto this wood.
He followed you; for love I followed him.
But he hath chid me hence, and threatened me
To strike me, spurn me, nay, to kill me too.
And now, so you will let me quiet go,
To Athens will I bear my folly back,
And follow you no further. Let me go.
You see how simple and how fond I am.
HERMIA
Why, get you gone. Who is’t that hinders you?
HELENA
A foolish heart that I leave here behind.
HERMIA
What, with Lysander?
HELENA With Demetrius.
LYSANDER
Be not afraid; she shall not harm thee, Helena.
DEMETRIUS
No, sir, she shall not, though you take her part.
HELENA
O, when she is angry she is keen and shrewd.
She was a vixen when she went to school,
And though she be but little, she is fierce.
She was a vixen when she went to school,
And though she be but little, she is fierce.
HERMIA
Little again? Nothing but ‘low’ and ‘little’?—
Why will you suffer her to flout me thus?
Let me come to her.
Why will you suffer her to flout me thus?
Let me come to her.
LYSANDER Get you gone, you dwarf,
You minimus of hind’ring knot-grass made,
You bead, you acorn.
You bead, you acorn.
DEMETRIUS You are too officious
In her behalf that scorns your services.
Let her alone. Speak not of Helena.
Take not her part. For if thou dost intend
Never so little show of love to her,
Thou shalt aby it.
Let her alone. Speak not of Helena.
Take not her part. For if thou dost intend
Never so little show of love to her,
Thou shalt aby it.
LYSANDER Now she holds me not.
Now follow, if thou dar’st, to try whose right,
Of thine or mine, is most in Helena.
Of thine or mine, is most in Helena.
DEMETRIUS
Follow? Nay, I’ll go with thee, cheek by jowl.
Exeunt Lysander and Demetrius
HERMIA
You, mistress, all this coil is long of you.
Nay, go not back.
Nay, go not back.
HELENA I will not trust you, I,
Nor longer stay in your curst company.
Your hands than mine are quicker for a fray;
My legs are longer, though, to run away. Exit
Your hands than mine are quicker for a fray;
My legs are longer, though, to run away. Exit
HERMIA
I am amazed, and know not what to say. Exit
⌈
Oberon and Robin come forward
⌉
OBERON
This is thy negligence. Still thou mistak‘st,
Or else commit’st thy knaveries wilfully.
Or else commit’st thy knaveries wilfully.
ROBIN
Believe me, king of shadows, I mistook.
Did not you tell me I should know the man
By the Athenian garments he had on?—
And so far blameless proves my enterprise
That I have ’nointed an Athenian’s eyes;
And so far am I glad it so did sort
As this their jangling I esteem a sport.
Did not you tell me I should know the man
By the Athenian garments he had on?—
And so far blameless proves my enterprise
That I have ’nointed an Athenian’s eyes;
And so far am I glad it so did sort
As this their jangling I esteem a sport.
OBERON
Thou seest these lovers seek a place to fight.
Hie therefore, Robin, overcast the night;
The starry welkin cover thou anon
With drooping fog
as
black as Acheron
,
And lead these testy rivals so astray
As one come not within another’s way.
Like to Lysander sometime frame thy tongue,
Then stir Demetrius up with bitter wrong;
And sometime rail thou like Demetrius,
And from each other look thou lead them thus
Till o’er their brows death-counterfeiting sleep
With leaden legs and batty wings doth creep.
Then crush this herb into Lysander’s eye—
Whose liquor hath this virtuous property,
To take from thence all error with his might,
And make his eyeballs roll with wonted sight.
When they next wake, all this derision
Shall seem a dream and fruitless vision,
And back to Athens shall the lovers wend
With league whose date till death shall never end.
Whiles I in this affair do thee employ,
I’ll to my queen and beg her Indian boy;
And then I will her charmed eye release
From monster’s view, and all things shall be peace.
Hie therefore, Robin, overcast the night;
The starry welkin cover thou anon
With drooping fog
as
black as Acheron
,
And lead these testy rivals so astray
As one come not within another’s way.
Like to Lysander sometime frame thy tongue,
Then stir Demetrius up with bitter wrong;
And sometime rail thou like Demetrius,
And from each other look thou lead them thus
Till o’er their brows death-counterfeiting sleep
With leaden legs and batty wings doth creep.
Then crush this herb into Lysander’s eye—
Whose liquor hath this virtuous property,
To take from thence all error with his might,
And make his eyeballs roll with wonted sight.
When they next wake, all this derision
Shall seem a dream and fruitless vision,
And back to Athens shall the lovers wend
With league whose date till death shall never end.
Whiles I in this affair do thee employ,
I’ll to my queen and beg her Indian boy;
And then I will her charmed eye release
From monster’s view, and all things shall be peace.
ROBIN
My fairy lord, this must be done with haste,
For night’s swift dragons cut the clouds full fast,
And yonder shines Aurora’s harbinger,
At whose approach ghosts, wand’ring here and there,
Troop home to churchyards; damned spirits all
That in cross-ways and floods have burial
Already to their wormy beds are gone,
For fear lest day should look their shames upon.
They wilfully themselves exiled from light,
And must for aye consort with black-browed night.
For night’s swift dragons cut the clouds full fast,
And yonder shines Aurora’s harbinger,
At whose approach ghosts, wand’ring here and there,
Troop home to churchyards; damned spirits all
That in cross-ways and floods have burial
Already to their wormy beds are gone,
For fear lest day should look their shames upon.
They wilfully themselves exiled from light,
And must for aye consort with black-browed night.
OBERON
But we are spirits of another sort.
I with the morning’s love have oft made sport,
And like a forester the groves may tread
Even till the eastern gate, all fiery red,
Opening on Neptune with fair blessed beams
Turns into yellow gold his salt green streams.
But notwithstanding, haste, make no delay;
We may effect this business yet ere day. Exit
I with the morning’s love have oft made sport,
And like a forester the groves may tread
Even till the eastern gate, all fiery red,
Opening on Neptune with fair blessed beams
Turns into yellow gold his salt green streams.
But notwithstanding, haste, make no delay;
We may effect this business yet ere day. Exit
ROBIN
Up and down, up and down,
I will lead them up and down.
I am feared in field and town.
Goblin, lead them up and down.
Here comes one.
Enter Lysander
LYSANDER
Where art thou, proud Demetrius? Speak thou now.
ROBIN ⌈
shifting place
⌉
shifting place
⌉
Here, villain, drawn and ready. Where art thou?
LYSANDER
I will be with thee straight.
ROBIN ⌈
shifting place
⌉ Follow me then
shifting place
⌉ Follow me then
To plainer ground. ⌈
Exit Lysander
⌉
Exit Lysander
⌉
Enter Demetrius
DEMETRIUS ⌈
shifting place
⌉ Lysander, speak again.
shifting place
⌉ Lysander, speak again.
Thou runaway, thou coward, art thou fled?
Speak! In some bush? Where dost thou hide thy head?
Speak! In some bush? Where dost thou hide thy head?
ROBIN ⌈
shifting place
⌉
shifting place
⌉
Thou coward, art thou bragging to the stars,
Telling the bushes that thou look’st for wars,
And wilt not come? Come, recreant; come, thou child,
I’ll whip thee with a rod. He is defiled
That draws a sword on thee.
Telling the bushes that thou look’st for wars,
And wilt not come? Come, recreant; come, thou child,
I’ll whip thee with a rod. He is defiled
That draws a sword on thee.
DEMETRIUS ⌈
shifting place
⌉ Yea, art thou there?
shifting place
⌉ Yea, art thou there?
ROBIN ⌈
shifting place
⌉
shifting place
⌉
Follow my voice; we’ll try no manhood here. Exeunt
3.3⌈
Enter Lysander
⌉
LYSANDER
He goes before me, and still dares me on;
When I come where he calls, then he is gone.
The villain is much lighter heeled than I;
I followed fast, but faster he did fly,
That fallen am I in dark uneven way,
And here will rest me.
Come, thou gentle day;
For if but once thou show me thy grey light,
I’ll find Demetrius, and revenge this spite.
He sleeps
When I come where he calls, then he is gone.
The villain is much lighter heeled than I;
I followed fast, but faster he did fly,
That fallen am I in dark uneven way,
And here will rest me.
He lies down
For if but once thou show me thy grey light,
I’ll find Demetrius, and revenge this spite.
He sleeps
Enter Robin Goodfellow and Demetrius
ROBIN ⌈
shifting place
⌉
shifting place
⌉
Ho, ho, ho, coward, why com’st thou not?
DEMETRIUS
Abide me if thou dar‘st, for well I wot
Thou runn’st before me, shifting every place,
And dar’st not stand nor look me in the face.
Where art thou now?
Thou runn’st before me, shifting every place,
And dar’st not stand nor look me in the face.
Where art thou now?
ROBIN ⌈
shifting place
⌉ Come hither, I am here.
shifting place
⌉ Come hither, I am here.
DEMETRIUS
Nay, then thou mock’st me. Thou shalt buy this
dear
If ever I thy face by daylight see.
Now go thy way. Faintness constraineth me
To measure out my length on this cold bed.
By day’s approach look to be visited.
He sleeps
Enter Helena
dear
If ever I thy face by daylight see.
Now go thy way. Faintness constraineth me
To measure out my length on this cold bed.
He lies down
He sleeps
Enter Helena
HELENA
O weary night, O long and tedious night,
Abate thy hours; shine comforts from the east
That I may back to Athens by daylight
From these that my poor company detest;
And sleep, that sometimes shuts up sorrow’s eye,
Steal me a while from mine own company.
Abate thy hours; shine comforts from the east
That I may back to Athens by daylight
From these that my poor company detest;
And sleep, that sometimes shuts up sorrow’s eye,
Steal me a while from mine own company.
She lies down and sleeps
ROBIN
Yet but three? Come one more,
Two of both kinds makes up four.
⌈
Enter Hermia
⌉
Here she comes, curst and sad.
Cupid is a knavish lad
Thus to make poor females mad.
HERMIA
Never so weary, never so in woe,
Bedabbled with the dew, and torn with briers,
I can no further crawl, no further go.
My legs can keep no pace with my desires.
Here will I rest me till the break of day.
She lies down
Heavens shield Lysander, if they mean a fray.
She sleeps
Bedabbled with the dew, and torn with briers,
I can no further crawl, no further go.
My legs can keep no pace with my desires.
Here will I rest me till the break of day.
She lies down
Heavens shield Lysander, if they mean a fray.
She sleeps
ROBIN On the ground sleep sound.
I’ll apply to your eye,
Gentle lover, remedy.
He drops the juice on Lysander’s eyelids
When thou wak‘st thou tak’st
True delight in the sight
Of thy former lady’s eye,
And the country proverb known,
That ‘every man should take his own’,
In your waking shall be shown.
Jack shall have Jill,
Naught shall go ill,
the man shall have his mare again, and all shall be well. Exit
4.1Enter Titania, Queen of Fairies, and Bottom the clown with the ass-head, and fairies: Peaseblossom, Cobweb, Mote, and Mustardseed
TITANIA (
to Bottom
)
to Bottom
)
Come, sit thee down upon this flow’ry bed,
While I thy amiable cheeks do coy,
And stick musk-roses in thy sleek smooth head,
And kiss thy fair large ears, my gentle joy.
While I thy amiable cheeks do coy,
And stick musk-roses in thy sleek smooth head,
And kiss thy fair large ears, my gentle joy.
BOTTOM Where’s Peaseblossom?
PEASEBLOSSOM Ready.
BOTTOM Scratch my head, Peaseblossom. Where’s Monsieur Cobweb?
COBWEB Ready.
BOTTOM Monsieur Cobweb, good monsieur, get you your weapons in your hand and kill me a red-hipped humble-bee on the top of a thistle; and, good monsieur, bring me the honeybag. Do not fret yourself too much in the action, monsieur; and, good monsieur, have a care the honeybag break not. I would be loath to have you overflowen with a honeybag, signor. ⌈
Exit Cobweb
⌉ Where’s Monsieur Mustardseed?
Exit Cobweb
⌉ Where’s Monsieur Mustardseed?
MUSTARDSEED Ready.
BOTTOM Give me your neaf, Monsieur Mustardseed. Pray you, leave your courtesy, good monsieur.
MUSTARDSEED What’s your will?
BOTTOM Nothing, good monsieur, but to help Cavaliery Peaseblossom to scratch. I must to the barber’s, monsieur, for methinks I am marvellous hairy about the face; and I am such a tender ass, if my hair do but tickle me I must scratch.
TITANIA
What, wilt thou hear some music, my sweet love?
BOTTOM I have a reasonable good ear in music. Let’s have the tongs and the bones.
⌈
Rural music
⌉
TITANIA
Or say, sweet love, what thou desir’st to eat.
BOTTOM Truly, a peck of provender. I could munch your good dry oats. Methinks I have a great desire to a bottle of hay. Good hay, sweet hay, hath no fellow.
TITANIA
I have a venturous fairy that shall seek
The squirrel’s hoard, and fetch thee off new nuts.
The squirrel’s hoard, and fetch thee off new nuts.
Bottom I had rather have a handful or two of dried peas. But I pray you, let none of your people stir me. I have an exposition of sleep come upon me.
TITANIA
Other books
A Baby for the Flying Doctor by Lucy Clark
Grave Phantoms by Jenn Bennett
Dirty Bad Strangers by Jade West
Caught by Harlan Coben
Wrecked by West, Priscilla
Alice Isn't Well (Death Herself Book 1) by Amy Cross
The Man Who Wasn't There: Investigations into the Strange New Science of the Self by Ananthaswamy, Anil
The Unicorn Thief by R. R. Russell
The Magus, A Revised Version by John Fowles
Venus Over Lannery by Martin Armstrong