100 Lo thee! See!
114 I … not I ought to do and you couldn’t do for me
115 instruction teaching by example
got upon me gained before I have/got as an advantage over me
116 nobleness in record noble reputation in history
117 bridegroom … bed playing on the idea of death as orgasm
121 dispatch me finish me off
126 his period its end
134 enter … him gain me admittance to his service/allow me to ingratiate myself
139 Sufficing … death sufficient blows to kill me
140 absolute complete, perfect
147 found proved true
148 disposed come to terms
150 how … work the effect it might have
156 bides waits/dwells
158 live … out outlive your faithful men
160 heavy sorrowful
161 sharp harsh, merciless
162 grace honor
Bid … Which welcome what
aloft on the gallery above the main stage
12 sphere planets and stars were thought to orbit within transparent concentric spheres that ringed the earth
Darkling in darkness
13 The … o’th’world the world is imaged as a coastline against which darkness and light ebb and flow; there is also suggestion of the world itself being a changeable place
22 importune urge, entreat (death to delay)
27 th’imperious show the imperial spectacle, i.e. triumphal procession
29 brooched adorned by my presence like a brooch
30 operation power, efficacy
32 still conclusion silent judgment
33 Demuring looking demurely/gazing at length
38 heaviness sorrow/weight
39 Juno supreme Roman goddess, Jove’s wife
40 Mercury messenger of the Roman gods, traditionally depicted wearing winged sandals
42 Wishers … fools proverbial
43 Die … lived do not die until you have really lived (“die” has orgasmic connotations)
44 Quicken come to life
46 heavy grievous, pitiful
49 rail so high curse so loudly
50 false housewife treacherous whore
wheel the Roman goddess Fortuna was conventionally depicted turning a wheel, which raised men up before casting them down (may pick up on the domestic sense of housewife to play on the sense of “spinning wheel”)
51 offence abusive language
54 They … together i.e. honor and safety
56 None … Proculeius trust none of Caesar’s officers except Proculeius
64 Not … countryman I have not submitted like a coward to Caesar
65 by a Roman i.e. by himself; Roman signifies the virtues of honor and courage
68 woo’t wilt, i.e. will you
71 sty pigsty/place inhabited by whores and lustful people
73 garland wreath crowning a victorious war hero
74 pole battle standard, pole bearing a military flag/Pole Star (phallic connotations are also present)
75 odds is gone distinction between great and small
76 remarkable wonderful, extraordinary
77 visiting i.e. which comes and goes as it waxes and wanes
85 e’en only
86 passion overpowering emotion/grief/a faint
87 chares chores
88 sceptre ornamental rod, symbol of royal authority
injurious harmful/unjust
91 sottish foolish
97 Our lamp i.e. Antony
sirs valid, if less frequently used, address form for women
98 brave splendid/valiant
103 briefest end swiftest death
bearing of carrying
2 frustrate defeated
mocks makes himself ridiculous in
3 pauses delays
6 thus i.e. with drawn sword in the presence of a ruler; in Shakespeare’s time this was a treasonous offense
10 wore … haters spent my life fighting his enemies
17 breaking destruction (of Antony)/disclosure (of the news)
18 crack loud noise/fracture
19 civil city/orderly
20 their dens their own homes/lions’ dens
21 single doom the fate of one individual alone
22 moiety half
25 self same
36 persisted persistently sought
37 waged equal with battled equally within
39 steer humanity guide a man/govern mankind
44 launch lance
46 shown i.e. through my own downfall
47 stall dwell
49 sovereign … hearts potent as heart’s blood
50 competitor partner
51 top … design the loftiest of undertakings
52 front battlefront/forehead
53 heart … kindle my heart took courage from his
54 stars, Unreconciliable unreconcilable fortunes
55 divide … this separate us, who were so equally matched in everything, to this degree
57 meeter season fitter time
58 looks … him appears to be urgent judging by his expression
60 yet i.e. still not a Roman subject
62 intents intentions
63 frame herself ready herself, adapt herself
66 by … ours through my representatives
68 lean incline, be disposed
69 ungentle unkind/discourteous/ignoble
72 purpose intend
73 quality … passion nature of her grief
75 her … triumph her presence at my triumphal procession would make it famous forever
77 with your speediest as fast as you can
78 of her her to be
86 hardly reluctantly
87 still always
88 writings i.e. to Antony
1 desolation despair/loneliness/ruin
2 better life more virtuous, unworldly
3 knave servant
5 that thing i.e. suicide
6 shackles … change prevents the effects of chance and changes of mortality
7 palates tastes
dung the dungy earth
8 beggar’s … Caesar’s i.e. sustainer of all men
10 study on consider
fair liberal/just
11 Thou mean’st you would wish
16 I … trusting I’m not concerned whether you deceive me since I have no interest in trust/I do not like being deceived since I know how little value there is in trust
26 Make … reference refer your entire situation
27 grace virtue/mercy
29 sweet dependency willing submissiveness
30 pray in aid crave your assistance (legal phrase)
33 vassal slave/servant and dependent
send … got recognize his great achievement and authority
35 doctrine lesson
40 surprised ambushed and captured
47 Relieved rescued
54 let come forth allow to be demonstrated
59 meat food
60 idle … necessary even if I must engage in idle chatter (in order to stay awake)
61 mortal house her body/royal line of the Ptolemies
63 pinioned with clipped wings
66 varletry rabble
67 censuring disapproving, judgmental
70 Blow … abhorring lay their eggs in my body, making me repulsive as they hatch out
71 pyramids i.e. four syllables with stress on second
make … gibbet let me hang from the pyramids (again, seemingly thought of as an obelisk)
73 extend exaggerate
78 For as for
90 trick custom, habit
96 stuck were set
98 little little people (most editors emend unnecessarily to “little O,” small circle)
100 bestrid straddled; reminiscent of the Colossus of Rhodes, the giant statue of the sun god Helios that stood astride the harbor entrance
reared raised
> 101 Crested crowned; a raised arm brandishing a sword was a common heraldic emblem
propertied … spheres had the same qualities as those found in the harmonious spheres (supposedly, the crystalline spheres thought to contain the planets and stars produced heavenly music as they rotated)
102 to friends when he spoke to friends
103 quail subdue, terrify
orb earth
104 For as for
106 delights … in his joys and pleasures lifted him above the everyday world in which he lived as a dolphin’s leaps lift it clear of the water
108 livery particular uniform of a nobleman’s servants
109 crowns and crownets kings and princes
110 plates silver coins
117 size scope
wants … fancy lacks material to make creatures that can compete with those of the imagination
118 yet … quite but if nature could imagine such an Antony it would be her masterpiece and would completely discredit the creations of imagination
123 As … weight correspondingly heavily
Would … root may I never achieve the success I’ve sought if the grief I see reflected in you doesn’t strike to the bottom of my heart
129 loath reluctant
would wish
142 Take … thoughts Do not reproach yourself harshly
144 written … flesh I bear the scars
146 sir master
147 project present, set out
149 like frailties similar moral weaknesses
152 extenuate … enforce excuse rather than emphasize (faults)
153 apply … intents comply with my plans
156 lay … cruelty make me appear cruel
157 bereave deprive
162 scutcheons shields bearing coats of arms; the shields of captured enemies were often displayed by the victor
signs tokens/military banners
164 for that concerns
165 brief inventory, summary
167 Not … admitted discounting trivial items
180 pomp is followed those in power are served
Mine my servants
181 shift estates change places
184 hired paid for
186 Though even if
187 rarely exceptionally
190 vouchsafing condescending
193 Parcel enumerate one by one/make up, add to
195 lady suitable for a lady, i.e. insignificant
196 Immoment toys trifling knickknacks
197 modern ordinary
withal with
199 Livia Caesar’s wife
200 unfolded With exposed by
201 bred brought up (or “trained”) as a member of my household
203 cinders glowing coals
204 chance fortune
206 Forbear withdraw
207 misthought misjudged
209 merits deserts, whether good or bad
213 i’th’roll of conquest on the official list of booty
214 Bestow dispose of
215 make prize haggle
217 Make … prisons you are confined only by your own thoughts
218 dispose make arrangements for
224 words me deceives me with words
that … myself in order to prevent me from taking the noble course of action (i.e. suicide)
228 Hie thee again come back quickly
229 spoke given orders
230 put … haste do it quickly
239 before ahead
247 puppet actor in a pantomime (or triumphal pageant)/dressed-up doll/contemptuous term for a woman
248 Mechanic slaves coarse workmen
249 rules measuring rods
250 thick foul
251 Rank of reeking due to
252 drink drink in, breathe
254 Saucy impudent/lascivious
lictors local officials
255 strumpets prostitutes
scald scurvy, contemptible
256 Ballad us sing ballads about us
quick quick-witted
comedians actors
257 Extemporally in improvised performance
260 Some … greatness my greatness imitated by a boy with a squeaky voice; on the Shakespearean stage, Cleopatra was herself played by a boy actor
269 Show me let me appear
270 attires clothing/headdress
Cydnus the river on which she first met Antony, now the Tarsus Cay, in southern Turkey
271 Sirrah sir (used to social inferiors, more commonly to men)
272 dispatch make haste/finish matters
273 chare chore
280 poor an a poor
282 placed fixed
284 marble-constant as firm and unyielding as marble
fleeting changeful, inconstant
Clown rustic
287 Avoid withdraw
288 worm snake
291 immortal malapropism for “mortal”
293 on’t from it
295 honest truthful/chaste
296 lie tell lies/have sex
do plays on the sense of “have sex”
297 died plays on the sense of “had an orgasm”
298 o’th’worm now with phallic connotations
300 falliable malapropism for “infallible”
305 do his kind do what is natural to him (do plays on its sexual sense)
311 Take … care don’t worry
314 eat bite/consume after death/enjoy sexually
317 dress clothe/prepare for cooking
318 whoreson damned, bastard
321 forsooth indeed
323 Immortal longings longings for immortality
325 Yare quickly, nimbly
326 rouse himself with connotations of penile erection
327 act deed/theatrical performance (with connotations of “sexual act”)
329 their after wrath the anger of the gods that was subsequently visited on those who became insolent in their good fortune
come with connotations of orgasm
330 title right
331 fire and air the more spiritual of the four elements
335 aspic asp, a small venomous snake
337 stroke blow/caress/lethal snakebite
340 leave-taking a formal goodbye
343 This i.e. Iras’s death
344 curlèd handsome, with beautifully styled hair
345 spend expend, bestow (perhaps with connotations of ejaculation)
346 mortal deadly
347 intrinsicate intricate (but with shades of “intrinsic,” i.e. situated within)
348 fool like wretch, a term of endearment
351 Unpolicied outwitted in political intrigue
352 eastern star Venus, the morning star, visible in the eastern sky
359 What why
362 Downy windows i.e. eyelids
364 Of by
awry crooked, askew
365 mend adjust
rustling making a noise, clattering
371 beguiled cheated
379 thy … this your fears have been realized here
Train retinue, followers
384 augurer prophet
385 That what
387 levelled took aim at, guessed
purposes intentions
391 simple harmless/humble
396 trimming up neatening
diadem crown/jeweled headband worn by eastern monarchs
402 As as if
403 toil net, snare
grace charm, beauty
405 vent discharge
blown swollen/deposited
412 conclusions infinite innumerable experiments
416 clip encompass/embrace
417 high of great magnitude/noble
418 Strike … them afflict with sorrow those who brought them about
their … lamented the pity that their story provokes is as great as the glory of their conqueror (Caesar)/their story is as tragic as Antony’s glory was great
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William Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra
Antony and Cleopatra Page 28
