3 warrant thee as ‘guarantee to you the amount that’ (see OED v. 8). The money will stand surety for the alleged debt, so that Antipholus can be released without the Officer assuming liability. Cf. warrant at 10; see 1.1.139 and n., on warrant.
’rested See 4.2.42, 45n.
4 wayward unreasonable; perverse (OED adj. 1); see TGV 1.2.57, LLL 3.1.179.
97 SD] F2 4.4] Capell (SCENE IV.) (Theobald subst.) 0.1 OF EPHESUS] Rowe; Ephes. F wearing the ring] this edn 0.2 the Officer] Folg2 (Capell subst.) 1+ SP] (An., Anti., Ant.) 3 ’rested] (rested), Theobald2
5–7 Modern editors sometimes eliminate F’s comma after messenger, making That … Ephesus into the message to his wife. Yet, as Oxf1 perceives, F’s punctuation ‘leave[s] the sense ambiguous’. Antipholus’ reflection (6), with its subjunctive should, seems half spoken to himself, as if the possibility rings as harshly in his own ears as the fact will sound in Adriana’s.
5 lightly trust easily believe (OED lightly adv. 2)
6 attached arrested
7.1 rope’s end i.e. piece of rope long enough to serve as a lash; cf. 4.1.16 and n., on rope’s end.
9, 10 that that which (the relative pronoun is omitted; see Blake, 3.3.2.6f)
10 warrant echoing Antipholus (3)
pay discharge a debt; flog, punish by beating (OED v.1 12c). Dromio means the latter; Antipholus understands the former.
11 In F, the form, either prose or verse, is unclear. As short verse (here), the line invites a verbal pause at the end for theatrical action or reaction. As prose, it breaks the tone of Antipholus’ previous verse speeches.
13 ducats See 4.1.30n.
14 serve provide, supply (OED v.1 38)
five hundred of ropes; on the recurrence of five, see 1.1.100n., on five.
rate price (OED n.1 3)
5 messenger;] F4; Messenger, F; messenger Ard2 7 SD OF EPHESUS] Rowe; Eph. F 9 SD] Capell subst. 10+ SP] (E.Dro., E. Dro., Dro.) 10 SD] Bevington4 subst. 11] verse as Wells
16 The line scans as hexameter with a first-foot ‘double onset’.
rope’s end See 4.1.16 and n., on rope’s end.
returned perhaps cueing Antipholus to take the rope, since he is about to welcome (17) Dromio by ‘turning’ the rope against him
18 be patient the same advice that Luciana gave to Antipholus’ wife at 2.1.9 (see n.), with a similar reception; cf. 5.1.174 and n., on patience. Turning towards farce, the scene now moves into prose.
19–20 patient … adversity alluding to Psalms, 94.13: ‘That thou mayest geue hym patience in tyme of aduersitie’ (see Shaheen, 115); also proverbial (Dent, A42.1)
21 Good now an interjection or entreaty (OED); cf. WT 5.1.19.
22–3 sometimes set as verse, but tonally similar to Dromio’s prose at 19–20
24, 26 senseless Antipholus means ‘without rational sense’; Dromio means ‘without physical sense or feeling’, his pun giving him the verbal upper hand even as Antipholus may be beating him. Cf. 2.2.35–9, and AW 2.1.124, TS 1.2.36.
25 SD more beating, as Dromio’s response (26–7) suggests
28–9 Antipholus takes back the meaning of ‘sense’: Dromio, like an ass, can only be brought to reason by being forced to feel pain (see OED sensible adj. A11, 14). The remark perpetuates the play’s animal imagery, especially the Dromios’ association with asses (see 2.2.205 and n.). Cf. Sidney’s Old Arcadia, describing Dametas as ‘not so sensible in anything as in blows’ (234).
16] Reed; prose F 17 ‘to that end’] this edn; to that end F 17 SD Beats Dromio] Pope subst. with the rope’s end] this edn 19–20] verse Rann 21] verse Steevens 25 SD] Collier4
30–40 A set-piece showcasing wit, energy and rhetorical skill, Dromio’s speech deploys nouns and verbs in paralleling and contrasting relationships (such as hour/instant), culminating in the virtuoso series waked/raised/driven/welcomed (35–7) and reprised in door to door (40). The repetitions of beating (34, 35) and with it (35–8) at the ends of clauses exemplify rhetorical antistrophe. (For other examples of rhetorical repetition-with-variation, see 1.1.57n.) Actors often mime the child on the beggar’s back, whose weight lames Dromio. Since beatings identify the stages of Dromio’s day and his life, they also provide a variation on the theme of time. Audiences can find Dromio’s sense of injustice sympathetic and disturbing (see Turner, 181). See also 1.2.85–6 and n. Antipholus makes no verbal response, just as he had similarly failed to do at 3.1.15–18 (see n.).
30 I … ass also spoken by Syracusan Dromio at 2.2.207, 3.2.75
30–1 ass … ears proverbial (see Dent, A355); ears probably puns on ‘years’ (i.e. ‘’ears’) (Cam); thus, Dromio is an ass for having served Antipholus so long. Or perhaps his ears are long from their being pulled by his master (Cam).
31 ears.–I Dromio redirects his address from Antipholus to the audience (or the Officer), as indicated by his shift from you (30) to him (31); cf. 78 and n., on did;–.
32 hour … nativity recalled at 5.1.404 in ‘calendars of their nativity’; see 5.1.404, 406n.
39 wont ‘is accustomed to do with’
40 beg with it Beating was a frequent punishment for begging (Ard2, citing Shakespeare’s England, 2.489–91); with = ‘as a result of’ (OED prep. 39a); cf. TGV 1.1.69.
40.2 schoolmaster Pinch’s profession remains ambiguous, partly from his function in the play and partly from the stereotype he embodies. (1) Although in the dialogue he is never called a ‘schoolmaster’, the probability of that profession is urged by Adriana’s reference to him as Master Doctor (123). It takes a learned man to know the proper language of exorcism and conjuration (as at Ham 1.1.42); a scholar was expected to be able to ‘cast out diuels’ (Vaughan, sig. Y8v). Pinch is called a conjuror at 5.1.177, 243. (2) Alternatively, Pinch may be a physician, since he behaves as one: he arrives to cure a madman, takes Antipholus’ pulse (53) and refers to humoural medical theory (82). A ‘Medicus’ functions similarly in Men. (889–956), and medical quacks appear in early English drama (e.g. the medieval Croxton Play of the Sacrament) and Italian commedia dell’arte. (3) In the more distant background hover other related types: the Elizabethan village ‘cunning men’ who dispensed magical remedies for bewitchment (see Thomas, Religion, e.g. 178, 185, 233); the sorcerers of biblical Ephesus (Acts, 19.13–19); and Catholic exorcists parodied by Protestants for superstition (see e.g. Nashe, Terrors of the Night (1594), 1.363–7). On Pinch’s name, see List of Roles, 18n.
31 ears] ’ears Hudson2 (Cam)
41 Come, go ‘Come on, let’s go’. The imperative Come functions as an invitation or encouragement (OED v. 34a); also at 5.1.114.
42 respice finem ‘look to the end,’ or respect your end (42–3). Dromio instructs Adriana to look at the rope’s end in Antipholus’ hand, implying that a beating will be her end or destiny; also ‘look to your posterior’. Additionally, Dromio is setting up a popular quibble, respice funem, ‘beware the rope’; see 44 and n. A familiar medieval Latin maxim (see Baldwin, ‘Finem’), the saying was also proverbial in English (Dent, E125) and arises frequently in morality plays and other writings.
43 *to … parrot Dromio prophesies by speaking omnisciently (OED prophesy v. 1a) rather than predictively (OED 1b). To ‘speak like a parrot’ was proverbial for talking nonsense (Wilson, 760; see Dent, P60). Early editors maintained that Elizabethan parrots were sometimes jokingly taught to say ‘the rope’ to strangers–indicating hanging as their fate (Theobald, citing Warburton). Samuel Butler’s Hudibras (1663), 1.1.54–62, refers to the practice. Dromio prophesies like the parrot; similarly, his twin brother has enjoined the Courtesan by quoting the peacock (see 4.3.81 and n.). Singer emended F’s ‘the prophesie’ to to prophesy, as here, and editors have typically followed. The parrot image may allude to Nashe’s An Almond for a Parrot (1590), a pamphlet (in the Martin Marprelate religious controversy) dedicated to the comic actor W
ill Kemp, who probably performed in CE as one of the Dromios (Appendix 3). In Almond, Nashe exposed, attacked and called for the death of John Penry as the pseudonymous Puritan Marprelate; Penry was tried and hanged in May 1593. Dromio, like the parrot, warns Adriana of hanging or beating.
44 ‘beware … end’ alluding to the Latin respice funem (‘look to the rope’–that is, ‘watch out that you are not hanged’, or, here, ‘flogged’) and playing on Dromio’s initial maxim, respice finem (42; see n.). As at 4.1.16 (see n., on rope’s end), rope probably constitutes a phallic allusion. The proverbial phrase ‘A rope for Parrot’ can suggest a pun on both hanging and sexual congress (Dent, R172.1). Shakespeare may also be alluding to Nashe’s Strange News (1592), which satirizes the academic Gabriel Harvey (cf. Appendix 1) being ‘bidde Respice funem, looke backe to his Fathers house’ (1.268). Harvey’s father was a rope-maker; thus, says Nashe, ‘Thou dost liue by the gallows’ (1.270) (see Tobin, ‘Touch’, 48–51; ‘Pinch’, 23); cf. 62n., on saffron; 86–7n.
40.1–2] opp. 41 Collier 40.2 PINCH] Pinch, and Assistants / Capell 41] verse as Johnson 42–3 ‘respect your end’] Wells; respect your end F 43 to prophesy] Singer2; the prophesie F; prophesie Rowe; I’ll prophesy (Rann) 44 ‘beware … end’] Capell subst.; beware … end F
45 still See 2.1.11n., on still.
47 incivility rudeness (OED n. 2). In the Elizabethan world, incivility, a breach of decorum, can be seen as madness; a comparable inference occurs regarding Malvolio, TN 3.4.8–9.
48 Doctor See 40.2n.
49 sense Adriana unconsciously picks up the word that had been the root of prior punning between Dromio and Antipholus (24–9). Here sense means normal mental faculties (OED n. 10a); exorcizing the demon will restore sanity.
50 please requite, pay (OED v. 5b)
what whatever
51 Luciana’s scrutiny here, and at 109, 130, betrays emotional sympathy, as if her wooing by ‘Antipholus’ in 3.2 had made a favourable impression (see also 4.2.14 and n.); see 131n. If Luciana is falling in love with Syracusan Antipholus, she will do so, in part, for the sufferings of his brother.
fiery fiercely irritable (OED adj. 3d); also suggesting red with anger. Sosicles Menaechmus’ complexion turns green and his pale eyes burn under like circumstances (see Men., 828–30).
sharp angry (OED adj. 5b); cf. 2H6 3.1.156.
52 trembles a sign of demonic possession; see 56, 93, 108.
ecstasy frenzy, with the sense of being ‘beside oneself’ or entranced (OED n. 1, 2); cf. ‘restless ecstasy’, Mac 3.2.22.
54 SD offers Farce virtually demands that the attempted blow connects, but Pinch makes no reference to being struck.
46 SD] Oxf 54 SD] Capell subst.
55–8 the second of the play’s two conjuration or exorcism passages; see 4.3.67–9, 80, and 4.3.69n., on conjure. The speech may recall the Ephesian Jews’ ineffectual attempt at exorcism in Acts, 19.13, although Shaheen finds it closer to other biblical exorcisms, e.g. Mark, 9.25 (116). The episode may satirize Catholic or even Puritan exorcism (see Landau, 194). Pinch’s supernatural approach will contrast to the Abbess’s more medical one; cf. 5.1.102–7 and n. Also, cf. 1.2.51 and n.
56 possession i.e. inhabitation; see 2.2.146n.
57 hie See 1.2.90n., on hie.
straight See 1.1.86n.
58 by … heaven One might conjure by invoking sacred beings for their miraculous power (see OED v.1 5a); Pinch’s invocation would be accompanied by appropriate gestures. Antipholus finds the ritual absurd (61).
59 doting foolish (OED adj. 1)
wizard man skilled in occult arts (OED n. 2a)
60 distressed distressèd
61–107 In Amph., Amphitryon and his wife, Alcumena, argue similarly (660–860). The husband and his slave wonder whether Alcumena is deceitful, mad, enchanted or in a Bacchic frenzy (703); Amphitryon even speculates whether he himself is ‘bewitched’ (844).
61 minion See 2.1.86n.
customers as if Adriana were a prostitute, although it was Antipholus who visited the Courtesan (Ard2). Elsewhere customer means not the client but the prostitute; see Oth 4.1.119, AW 5.3.286.
62 companion i.e. Doctor Pinch; used contemptuously, as at MW 3.1.120, 1H4 3.2.68
saffron orange-yellow (see OED adj., and n. 3), probably a sign of age (cf. ‘yellow’ at 2H4 1.2.181) or of sickliness, as from an excess of yellow bile causing jaundice (see Walkington, sigs H4r, H7r). Actors also used saffron as a cosmetic dye (see Drew-Bear, 21, 101–2). Originating from Greece or Asia Minor, saffron was cultivated extensively (though not exclusively) in Saffron Walden and valued as a spice, a cooking and baking dye (AW 4.5.2–4, WT 4.3.45–6) and an all-purpose medicine (Page & Round, 2.359–66). The word may allude to Gabriel Harvey, who was from Saffron Walden (see 44n.). Tobin sees Pinch as a satirical representation of Harvey (‘Pinch’, 25).
63 it colloquial direct object with no reference to anything previously mentioned (Abbott, 226)
64 guilty doors with guilty as a transferred epithet (rhetorical hypallage); doors may function sexually as it did in 3.1; see 3.1.30n., on door is locked.
68 these … shame Adriana views her husband’s slanders of her as a shame to him. On shame, see 2.1.112 and n.; shame occurs again at 81, shameful at 106.
69–80 rhetorical stichomythia (except in 78–9); see 2.1.10–41n. Dromio’s witty initial asseverations and his reiterations provide a sense of rhythmic and verbal repetition that mark off the passage. The exchange recalls academic debate or legal inquiry.
72 Perdie ‘By God’, a variant of the Anglicized French pardie, from par dieu. This oath and Dromio’s subsequent ones seem intended ‘to mock as well humour Antipholus’ (Wells).
74 Sans fable without doubt (French fable)
75 kitchen-maid demonstrating that Luce the taunting servant in 3.1 and Nell the kitchen wench (3.2.94–5) are the same character; see also 3.2.110 and n.
76 Certes certainly
69] verse as Theobald ‘Dined at home’] Folg2; Din’d at home F SD] Capell subst. sayst] Rowe; sayest F
vestal ironic reference to Luce’s virginity and kitchen employment, since vestal derives from the virgins who tended the sacred fire of Vesta, the Roman goddess of hearth, home and family
78 did; – Dromio’s shift in pronouns from you (78) to his (79) indicates a shift in address from Antipholus to other characters or to the audience, as with his earlier monologue about beatings (30–40); his lines here recall that speech (see 31n., on ears.–I). Dromio has been parroting Antipholus’ charges (72–9), with a slyly different tone.
bones bears See 3.2.19–20n.
80 soothe humour (OED v. 4). F’s ‘sooth’ means soothe, since ‘sooth’ (n. truth) did not occur as a verb.
contraries ‘inaccurate claims’ (Oxf1)
81–2 Pinch’s belief that Dromio is merely humouring Antipholus will change into his belief, at 93, that the servant is as possessed as the master.
81 It … shame i.e. it is no disgrace inflicted on Antipholus; on shame, see 2.1.112n.
fellow … his i.e. Dromio … Antipholus’
vein mood or frame of mind, like the merry vein of raillery at 2.2.20 (see n.). The word may recall Pinch’s attempt to feel Antipholus’ pulse at 53.
82 humours On ‘humour’, see 1.2.21n.
83 suborned i.e. induced to commit a misdeed by bribery or other corrupt means (OED v. 1a)
84 redeem See 1.1.8n, on redeem.
86–7 Heart … money ‘You might have received sympathy and good will from me but not a bit of money.’ Two proverbs converge (Oxf1): ‘With heart and good will’ (Dent, H338.1; cf. MND 3.2.164) and ‘Not a rag of money’ (Dent, R6.1); rag is a cant term for ‘farthing’, i.e. a minuscule amount of money (OED rag n.2 6c). These conjoined proverbs echo Nashe’s satirizing of Harvey’s brother in Strange News for dying
without leaving anything to his siblings: ‘heart and good will, but neuer a ragge of money’ (1.301); cf. 44n.; 62n., on saffron.
78 did;–my] Capell; did, my F 79 his] your Rowe3 80 SD] Oxf subst. soothe] (sooth); smooth F2 81 It] aside to Adriana It Oxf shame] harm (McKerrow, per Oxf) 83 SD] Oxf
93 is See 3.2.19–20n.
possessed inhabited by a demon; mad (OED adj. 2a); see 2.2.146n., on I … with.
94 deadly death-like (OED adj. 7)
95 bound … room as madmen were commonly treated; a similar fate befalls Malvolio (see TN 3.4.135–6); see also Reed, Bedlam, 11; cf. 5.1.247–9.
bound See 1.1.81n. Pinch’s resort to hempen bonds offers an instance of ‘materialization’, the prior language of band and bond now calling forth, as it were, the physical binding of Antipholus and Dromio; cf. 126n. The rope’s end (44) has multiplied into lengths of rope.
96, 98 forth See 1.2.37 and n., on find … forth.
97 bag of gold Cf. 4.1.105 and n., 4.2.61.1 and n.
96 SD] Oxf today?] Capell; to day, F 97 SD] Oxf (Capell subst.)
102 harlot unchaste woman; prostitute (OED n. 5c); ‘harlots’ occurs at 5.1.205 (see n.); cf. 2.2.142 and n.
103 confederate united in league (OED adj. A); cf. 4.1.17 and n.
damned damnèd
pack i.e. gang of conspirators (see OED n.1 4a); cf. 5.1.219 and n., on packed with; TN 5.1.378.
104 scorn mockery (OED n. 1a)
105 In Men., the traveller Menaechmus, feigning madness, threatens to ‘burn out that woman’s [i.e. his brother’s wife’s] eyes with flaming torches’ (841); cf. 5.1.183 and n., KL 3.6.15–16.
106 shameful See 2.1.112n.
108 SD *This entrance SD occurs after 106 in F, but its unclear relationship to the dialogue has caused editors to locate it variously. It may have been written in the margins of the MS from which the compositors worked. The present position is warranted because only Pinch cries More company!; the attendants are under his authority; and his statement in the second part of 108 responds to Antipholus’ striving.
strives struggles (OED v. 3e)
The Comedy of Errors Page 41
