The Oxford Shakespeare: The Complete Works

by William Shakespeare

  I charge thee hence, and do not haunt me thus.

  HELENA

  O, wilt thou darkling leave me? Do not so.

  DEMETRIUS

  Stay, on thy peril; I alone will go. Exit

  HELENA

  O, I am out of breath in this fond chase.

  The more my prayer, the lesser is my grace.

  Happy is Hermia, wheresoe‘er she lies;

  For she hath blessed and attractive eyes.

  How came her eyes so bright? Not with salt tears—

  If so, my eyes are oft’ner washed than hers.

  No, no; I am as ugly as a bear, 100

  For beasts that meet me run away for fear.

  Therefore no marvel though Demetrius

  Do, as a monster, fly my presence thus.

  What wicked and dissembling glass of mine

  Made me compare with Hermia’s sphery eyne!

  But who is here? Lysander, on the ground?

  Dead, or asleep? I see no blood, no wound.

  Lysander, if you live, good sir, awake.

  LYSANDER (awaking)

  And run through fire I will for thy sweet sake.

  Transparent Helena, nature shows art

  That through thy bosom makes me see thy heart.

  Where is Demetrius? O, how fit a word

  Is that vile name to perish on my sword!

  HELENA

  Do not say so, Lysander; say not so.

  What though he love your Hermia? Lord, what

  though?

  Yet Hermia still loves you; then be content.

  LYSANDER

  Content with Hermia? No, I do repent

  The tedious minutes I with her have spent.

  Not Hermia but Helena I love.

  Who will not change a raven for a dove?

  The will of man is by his reason swayed,

  And reason says you are the worthier maid.

  Things growing are not ripe until their season,

  So I, being young, till now ripe not to reason.

  And, touching now the point of human skill,

  Reason becomes the marshal to my will,

  And leads me to your eyes, where I o’erlook

  Love’s stories written in love’s richest book.

  HELENA

  Wherefore was I to this keen mockery born?

  When at your hands did I deserve this scorn?

  Is’t not enough, is’t not enough, young man,

  That I did never—no, nor never can—

  Deserve a sweet look from Demetrius’ eye,

  But you must flout my insufficiency?

  Good troth, you do me wrong; good sooth, you do,

  In such disdainful manner me to woo.

  But fare you well. Perforce I must confess

  I thought you lord of more true gentleness.

  O, that a lady of one man refused

  Should of another therefore be abused! Exit

  LYSANDER

  She sees not Hermia. Hermia, sleep thou there,

  And never mayst thou come Lysander near;

  For as a surfeit of the sweetest things

  The deepest loathing to the stomach brings,

  Or as the heresies that men do leave

  Are hated most of those they did deceive,

  So thou, my surfeit and my heresy,

  Of all be hated, but the most of me;

  And all my powers, address your love and might

  To honour Helen, and to be her knight. Exit

  HERMIA (awaking)

  Help me, Lysander, help me! Do thy best

  To pluck this crawling serpent from my breast!

  Ay me, for pity. What a dream was here?

  Lysander, look how I do quake with fear.

  Methought a serpent ate my heart away,

  And you sat smiling at his cruel prey.

  Lysander—what, removed? Lysander, lord—

  What, out of hearing, gone? No sound, no word?

  Alack, where are you? Speak an if you hear,

  Speak, of all loves. I swoon almost with fear.

  No? Then I well perceive you are not nigh.

  Either death or you I’ll find immediately. Exit

  3.1 Enter the clowns: Quince, Snug, Bottom, Flute, Snout, and Starveling

  BOTTOM Are we all met?

  QUINCE Pat, pat; and here’s a marvellous convenient place for our rehearsal. This green plot shall be our stage, this hawthorn brake our tiring-house, and we will do it in action as we will do it before the Duke.

  bottom Peter Quince?

  QUINCE What sayst thou, bully Bottom?

  BOTTOM There are things in this comedy of Pyramus and Thisbe that will never please. First, Pyramus must draw a sword to kill himself, which the ladies cannot abide. How answer you that?

  SNOUT By’r la’kin, a parlous fear.

  STARVELING I believe we must leave the killing out, when all is done.

  BOTTOM Not a whit. I have a device to make all well. Write me a prologue, and let the prologue seem to say we will do no harm with our swords, and that Pyramus is not killed indeed; and for the more better assurance, tell them that I, Pyramus, am not Pyramus, but Bottom the weaver. This will put them out of fear.

  QUINCE Well, we will have such a prologue; and it shall be written in eight and six.

  BOTTOM No, make it two more: let it be written in eight and eight.

  SNOUT Will not the ladies be afeard of the lion?

  STARVELING I fear it, I promise you.

  BOTTOM Masters, you ought to consider with yourself, to bring in—God shield us—a lion among ladies is a most dreadful thing; for there is not a more fearful wild fowl than your lion living, and we ought to look to’t.

  SNOUT Therefore another prologue must tell he is not a lion.

  BOTTOM Nay, you must name his name, and half his face must be seen through the lion’s neck, and he himself must speak through, saying thus or to the same defect: ‘ladies’, or ‘fair ladies, I would wish you’ or ‘I would request you’ or ‘I would entreat you not to fear, not to tremble. My life for yours. If you think I come hither as a lion, it were pity of my life. No, I am no such thing. I am a man, as other men are’—and there, indeed, let him name his name, and tell them plainly he is Snug the joiner.

  QUINCE Well, it shall be so; but there is two hard things: that is, to bring the moonlight into a chamber—for you know Pyramus and Thisbe meet by moonlight.

  ⌈SNOUT⌉ Doth the moon shine that night we play our play?

  BOTTOM A calendar, a catendar—took in the almanac, find out moonshine, find out moonshine.

  ⌈Enter Robin Goodfellow the puck, invisible⌉

  QUINCE ⌈with a book⌉ Yes, it doth shine that night.

  BOTTOM Why, then may you leave a casement of the great chamber window where we play open, and the moon may shine in at the casement.

  QUINCE Ay, or else one must come in with a bush of thorns and a lantern and say he comes to disfigure, or to present, the person of Moonshine. Then there is another thing: we must have a wall in the great chamber; for Pyramus and Thisbe, says the story, did talk through the chink of a wall.

  SNOUT You can never bring in a wall. What say you, Bottom?

  BOTTOM Some man or other must present Wall; and let him have some plaster, or some loam, or some roughcast about him, to signify ‘wall’; and let him hold his fingers thus, and through that cranny shall Pyramus and Thisbe whisper.

  QUINCE If that may be, then all is well. Come, sit down every mother’s son, and rehearse your parts. Pyramus, you begin. When you have spoken your speech, enter into that brake; and so everyone according to his cue.

  ROBIN (aside)

  What hempen homespuns have we swagg’ring here

  So near the cradle of the Fairy Queen?

  What, a play toward? I’ll be an auditor—

  An actor, too, perhaps, if I see cause.

  QUINCE Speak, Pyramus. Thisbe, stand forth.

  BOTTOM (as Pyramus)

  T
hisbe, the flowers of odious savours sweet.

  QUINCE Odours, odours.

  BOTTOM (as Pyramus) Odours savours sweet.

  So hath thy breath, my dearest Thisbe dear.

  But hark, a voice. Stay thou but here a while,

  And by and by I will to thee appear. Exit

  ⌈ROBIN⌉ (aside)

  A stranger Pyramus than e’er played here. Exit

  FLUTE Must I speak now ?

  QUINCE Ay, marry must you. For you must understand he goes but to see a noise that he heard, and is to come again. 86

  FLUTE (as Thisbe)

  Most radiant Pyramus, most lily-white of hue,

  Of colour like the red rose on triumphant brier;

  Most bristly juvenile, and eke most lovely Jew,

  As true as truest horse that yet would never tire:

  I’ll meet thee, Pyramus, at Ninny’s tomb.

  QUINCE Ninus’ tomb, man!—Why, you must not speak that yet. That you answer to Pyramus. You speak all your part at once, cues and all.—Pyramus, enter: your cue is past; it is ‘never tire’.

  FLUTE O.

  (As Thisbe) As true as truest horse that yet would

  never tire.

  Enter ⌈Robin leading⌉ Bottom with the ass-head

  BOTTOM (as Pyramus)

  If I were fair, Thisbe, I were only thine.

  QUINCE O monstrousl O strange! We are haunted. Pray, masters; fly, masters: help! ⌈The clowns all exeunt⌉

  ROBIN

  I’ll follow you, I’ll lead you about a round,

  Through bog, through bush, through brake,

  through brier.

  Sometime a horse I’ll be, sometime a hound,

  A hog, a headless bear, sometime a fire,

  And neigh, and bark, and grunt, and roar, and burn,

  Like horse, hound, hog, bear, fire, at every turn. Exit

  ⌈Enter Bottom again, with the ass-head⌉

  BOTTOM Why do they run away? This is a knavery of them to make me afeard.

  Enter Snout

  SNOUT O Bottom, thou art changed. What do I see on thee?

  BOTTOM What do you see? You see an ass-head of your own, do you? ⌈Exit Snout⌉

  Enter Quince

  QUINCE Bless thee, Bottom, bless thee. Thou art translated. Exit

  BOTTOM I see their knavery. This is to make an ass of me, to fright me, if they could; but I will not stir from this place, do what they can. I will walk up and down here, and I will sing, that they shall hear I am not afraid.

  (Sings)

  The ousel cock so black of hue,

  With orange-tawny bill;

  The throstle with his note so true,

  The wren with little quill.

  TITANIA (awaking)

  What angel wakes me from my flow’ry bed?

  BOTTOM (sings)

  The finch, the sparrow, and the lark,

  The plainsong cuckoo grey,

  Whose note full many a man doth mark,

  And dares not answer ‘Nay’—

  for indeed, who would set his wit to so foolish a bird?

  Who would give a bird the lie, though he cry ’Cuckoo’

  never so?

  TITANIA

  I pray thee, gentle mortal, sing again.

  Mine ear is much enamoured of thy note;

  So is mine eye enthralled to thy shape;

  And thy fair virtue’s force perforce doth move me

  On the first view to say, to swear, I love thee.

  BOTTOM Methinks, mistress, you should have little reason for that. And yet, to say the truth, reason and love keep little company together nowadays—the more the pity that some honest neighbours will not make them friends. Nay, I can gleek upon occasion.

  TITANIA

  Thou art as wise as thou art beautiful.

  BOTTOM Not so, neither; but if I had wit enough to get out of this wood, I have enough to serve mine own turn.

  TITANIA

  Out of this wood do not desire to go.

  Thou shalt remain here, whether thou wilt or no.

  I am a spirit of no common rate:

  The summer still doth tend upon my state;

  And I do love thee. Therefore go with me.

  I’ll give thee fairies to attend on thee,

  And they shall fetch thee jewels from the deep,

  And sing while thou on pressed flowers dost sleep;

  And I will purge thy mortal grossness so

  That thou shalt like an airy spirit go.

  Peaseblossom, Cobweb, Mote, and Mustardseed!

  Enter four fairies: Peaseblossom, Cobweb, Mote, and Mustardseed

  A FAIRY

  Ready.

  ANOTHER And I.

  ANOTHER And I.

  ANOTHER And I.

  ⌈ALL FOUR⌉ Where shall we go?

  TITANIA

  Be kind and courteous to this gentleman.

  Hop in his walks, and gambol in his eyes.

  Feed him with apricots and dewberries,

  With purple grapes, green figs, and mulberries;

  The honeybags steal from the humble-bees,

  And for night tapers crop their waxen thighs

  And light them at the fiery glow-worms’ eyes

  To have my love to bed, and to arise;

  And pluck the wings from painted butterflies

  To fan the moonbeams from his sleeping eyes.

  Nod to him, elves, and do him courtesies.

  A FAIRY Hail, mortal.

  ⌈FANOTHER⌉ Hall.

  ANOTHER Hail.

  ANOTHER Hail.

  BOTTOM I cry your worships mercy, heartily.—I beseech your worship’s name.

  COBWEB Cobweb.

  BOTTOM I shall desire you of more acquaintance, good Master Cobweb. If I cut my finger, I shall make bold with you.—Your name, honest gentleman?

  PEASEBLOSSOM Peaseblossom.

  bottom I pray you commend me to Mistress Squash, your mother, and to Master Peascod, your father. Good Master Peaseblossom, I shall desire you of more acquaintance, too.—Your name, I beseech you, sir?

  MUSTARDSEED Mustardseed.

  BOTTOM Good Master Mustardseed, I know your patience well. That same cowardly giantlike ox-beef hath devoured many a gentleman of your house. I promise you your kindred hath made my eyes water ere now. I desire you of more acquaintance, good Master Mustardseed.

  TITANIA (to the Fairies)

  Come, wait upon him, lead him to my bower.

  The moon, methinks, looks with a wat’ry eye,

  And when she weeps, weeps every little flower,

  Lamenting some enforced chastity.

  Tie up my love’s tongue; bring him silently. Exeunt

  3.2 Enter Oberon, King of Fairies

  OBERON

  I wonder if Titania be awaked,

  Then what it was that next came in her eye,

  Which she must dote on in extremity.Enter Robin Goodfellow

  Here comes my messenger. How now, mad spirit?

  What nightrule now about this haunted grove?

  ROBIN

  My mistress with a monster is in love.

  Near to her close and consecrated bower

  While she was in her dull and sleeping hour

  A crew of patches, rude mechanicals

  That work for bread upon Athenian stalls,

  Were met together to rehearse a play

  Intended for great Theseus’ nuptial day.

  The shallowest thickskin of that barren sort,

  Who Pyramus presented, in their sport

  Forsook his scene and entered in a brake,

  When I did him at this advantage take.

  An ass’s nole I fixèd on his head.

  Anon his Thisbe must be answered,

  And forth my mimic comes. When they him spy—

  As wild geese that the creeping fowler eye,

  Or russet-pated choughs, many in sort,

  Rising and cawing at the gun’s report,

  Sever themselves and
madly sweep the sky—

  So, at his sight, away his fellows fly,

  And at our stamp here o’er and o’er one falls.

  He ’Murder’ cries, and help from Athens calls.

  Their sense thus weak, lost with their fears thus

  strong,

  Made senseless things begin to do them wrong.

  For briers and thorns at their apparel snatch;

  Some sleeves, some hats—from yielders all things catch.

  I led them on in this distracted fear,

  And left sweet Pyramus translated there;

  When in that moment, so it came to pass,

  Titania waked and straightway loved an ass.

  OBERON

  This falls out better than I could devise.

  But hast thou yet latched the Athenian’s eyes

  With the love juice, as I did bid thee do?

  ROBIN

  I took him sleeping; that is finished, too;

  And the Athenian woman by his side,

  That when he waked of force she must be eyed.

  Enter Demetrius and Hermia

  OBERON

  Stand close. This is the same Athenian.

  ROBIN

  This is the woman, but not this the man.

  ⌈They stand apart⌉

  DEMETRIUS

  O, why rebuke you him that loves you so?

  Lay breath so bitter on your bitter foe.

  HERMIA

  Now I but chide, but I should use thee worse;

  For thou, I fear, hast given me cause to curse.

  If thou hast slain Lysander in his sleep,

  Being o‘er shoes in blood, plunge in the deep,

  And kill me too.

  The sun was not so true unto the day

  As he to me. Would he have stolen away

  From sleeping Hermia? I’ll believe as soon

  This whole earth may be bored, and that the moon

  May through the centre creep, and so displease

  Her brother’s noontide with th’Antipodes.

  It cannot be but thou hast murdered him.

  So should a murderer look—so dead, so grim.

  DEMETRIUS

  So should the murdered look, and so should I,

  Pierced through the heart with your stern cruelty.

  Yet you, the murderer, look as bright, as clear

  As yonder Venus in her glimmering sphere.

  HERMIA