66 humming murmuring
68 Nestor the name of an old and wise king in classical mythology
69 Nicander the name of a Greek poet, physician, and grammarian
70 satin satin-lined
70 coffer box, chest
71 Hie thee go quickly
72 Suddenly immediately
73 beneath the hatches belowdecks
73 caulked sealed
74 bitumed made waterproof with bitumen (pitch)
78 Alter … Tyre alter your direction (course), which is currently toward Tyre
83 Go thy ways go ahead/go about it
84 presently at once
Act 3 Scene 2
3.2 Location: Ephesus
8 ministered given in assistance
8 nature a person’s physical strength or constitution
9 ’pothecary apothecary, who prepares and sells drugs for medicinal purposes
14 bleak windswept
14 bleak upon exposed to/in an exposed position next to
15 as as if
16 principals main rafters, posts, or braces of a building
16 rend tear apart
20 husbandry industriousness
21 O … well an ironic dismissal responding to the gentleman’s self-depreciation
23 tire furnishings
24 repose sleep
25 conversant familiar
25 pain labor
27 hold it ever have always believed
28 cunning skill/cleverness/knowledge
29 Careless prodigal/reckless
30 darken sully/dishonor
33 physic medicine
34 turning o’er authorities reading learned books
35 practice practical investigations
36 to my aid to assist me in healing
36 blest infusions medicinal properties
37 vegetives plants, herbs
39 works causes
40 more content truer happiness
40 in course in the pursuit
41 tottering honour unstable reputation
42 tie … bags draw all my pleasure from the acquisition of wealth
43 To … death i.e. which would please only a fool, or death, who will inherit in the end
45 Ephesus ancient city on the western coast of Asia Minor (in present-day Turkey), famous for its temple to Diana; also the setting of Shakespeare’s Comedy of Errors
46 call … creatures acknowledge that they owe their lives to you
46 creatures dependents
47 not not only
48 your … open i.e. your generosity
48 pain labor
60 o’ercharged overfilled
61 constraint of fortune act commanded by fortune
63 close tightly
63 caulked sealed
63 bitumed smeared with bitumen (pitch)
65 billow wave
68 Soft! Wait a moment!
70 it i.e. the lid
73 cloth of state material fit for a queen (literally refers to the canopy over a throne)
73 balmed embalmed/anointed
73 entreasured kept as in a treasury
74 passport document providing identification/guaranteeing admission
75 Apollo Greco-Roman god of medicine, learning, and music
75 perfèct me help me to understand
75 characters handwriting/writing
77 drives a-land is driven ashore
79 mundane cost worldly wealth
80 Who whoever
85 even just now/fully
85 This chanced tonight? This happened last night?
88 rough hasty/careless
90 closet private room/inner chamber
93 o’er-pressed overwhelmed
93 spirits vital powers or energies (in medieval and early modern medicine, substances or fluids thought to permeate the blood and organs)
95 appliance attention, treatment
96 Well said well done
96 cloths the Quarto text’s spelling could indicate cloths or clothes
98 viol a stringed instrument
98 how thou stirr’st how slow you are
98 block blockhead, idiot
101 Nature … her i.e. Nature sets her breathing again
102 above more than
103 ’gins begins
103 blow blossom/bloom
108 fringes … gold Thaisa’s eyelashes
109 diamonds … water Thaisa’s eyes
109 water luster/quality
112 Rare marvelous/exceptional
116 Most rare most unusual/extraordinary
120 is mortal would be fatal
121 Aesculapius Greco-Roman god of healing (the son of Apollo)
Act 3 Scene 3
3.3 Location: Tarsus
3 litigious contentious
4 Take … you i.e. I cannot thank you enough, the gods will fully reward you
6 shakes of fortune damaging shocks delivered by fortune
6 haunt you mortally pursue you with lethal intent
7 glance … us touch us and amaze us
13 Marina “child of the sea” (from Latin mare)
15 charge … withal entrust to your kindness/burden your kindness with
16 of in
17 she … born her behavior may match her high status
20 for … fall the people constantly bless Pericles/the people should always bless Pericles
21 neglection negligence
22 common body people of Tarsus
24 that i.e. that duty
24 a spur encouragement
26 To … generation until all procreation stops/until Cleon’s descendants die out
28 to’t to do it
31 show ill in’t (shall) look unattractive
32 blessèd fortunate
35 respect esteem, fondness/care, attention
39 masked deceptively calm/withdrawn
Act 3 Scene 4
3.4 Location: Ephesus
2 coffer coffin
3 character handwriting
4 shipped at sent to
5 even on just at
5 eaning time time of giving birth (eaning means “lambing,” but writers also use it of humans)
6 whether there delivered whether I gave birth there
7 rightly accurately
9 vestal livery a virgin priestess’s clothing; Vestal Virgins tended the sacred fire in the temple of Vesta, Roman goddess of the hearth
11 this … speak you mean to do as you say
13 abide … expire stay for the rest of your life
16 recompense payment
Act 4 Chorus
2 to in accordance with
4 there’s there is/there as
4 votaress priestess
5 bend direct, turn
6 fast-growing i.e. because fourteen years have passed
8 music’s letters the study of music
10 heart and place focal point
12 wrack ruin, destruction
13 earnèd justified
15 kind manner
17 ripe mature/sexually available
18 Hight is called (deliberately archaic)
18 Philoten the name is taken from Gower’s Confessio Amantis
19 For certain assuredly
21 sleided variant of “sleaved”: (of silk) separated into threads to be used in weaving or embroidery
22 small slender
23 nee’le needle
24 cambric fine white linen originally made in Cambrai, France sound strong (the embroidery covers the fabric, making it stronger)
26 night-bird nightingale
27 records with moan sings in a mournful fashion/recalls sadly; alludes to the classical legend of Philomela, raped by her brother-in-law Tereus and eventually transformed into a nightingale
28 rich eloquent
28 constant consistent/loyal
29 Vail p
ay homage
31 absolute incomparable
32 dove of Paphos white dove sacred to Venus, who rose from the waves near Paphos in Cyprus
33 Vie feathers white compete to see which had the whiter feathers
35 as given as compliments
35 darks eclipses
36 graceful marks attractive characteristics/signs of virtue
37 rare exceptional
38 present immediate
41 stead assist
44 pregnant ready/compliant
45 Pressed pushed forward/forced into service
46 content pleasure (in watching the play)
47 wingèd Time Time was represented as an old man with wings
48 Post quickly
48 lame … rhyme halting verse
48 feet metrical units
50 never … way I could not express (convey) without the help of your imaginations
Act 4 Scene 1
4.1 Location: Tarsus
3 soon quickly
5 love i.e. love for Marina
7 be … purpose behave like a soldier and do your job
8 goodly attractive
9 fitter more appropriate
10 only one and only
11 Thou art resolved you have decided
13 Tellus Roman goddess of the earth
13 weed garment, clothing; plays on sense of “plant”
14 green the green grass of the grave
17 Ay me alas
19 lasting perpetual
20 Whirring rushing/whirling
21 How now what is the matter
21 keep remain
22 How chance how does it happen that
23 sorrowing sighing (thought to waste the blood and cause ill-health)
24 Have … me make me your nurse
24 favour’s appearance is
26 o’er … margent along the edge of the sea (i.e. on the seashore)
27 quick invigorating
28 stomach appetite
33 With … heart i.e. as if we were relatives/of the same nation
35 Our … reports our unequaled beauty, as all agree (paragon plays on sense of “rival”)
35 blasted blighted/withered
38 courses interests
39 reserve preserve
48 warrant promise/assure
50 softly slowly/gently
50 heat your blood overexert yourself
59 Galling chafing, rubbing
59 haling pulling, hauling
65 ladder tackle ropes or a rope ladder in the rigging of the ship
66 canvas climber sailor climbing in the rigging
66 wolt out? are you going?
67 dropping dripping
67 industry toil, labor
68 stem to stern from the front to the back of the ship
68 boatswain ship’s chief officer
79 troth truth
79 by my troth a mild expletive, meaning “by my faith”
82 la an exclamation (like “indeed”)
88 commission order
91 well favoured of a good appearance/pleasant-looking
91 foreshow indicate
93 caught hurt received an injury
94 Good sooth in good truth (a mild expletive)
99 prize ship or property captured at sea
100 Half part fair shares (either in selling Marina or in raping her)
100 have carry
101 suddenly immediately
102 roguing villainous
102 Valdes may refer to Pedro de Valdes, a Spanish admiral in the Armada fleet of 1588
106 please themselves upon i.e. rape
108 ravished abducted/raped
Act 4 Scene 2
4.2 Location: Mytilene
4.2 three bawds the term “bawd” (one who sells another person for sex) could still be used of both sexes
4.2 Pander a stereotypical name for a male bawd, derived from Pandarus, who brought Troilus and Cressida together
4.2 Bolt a projectile or a pin for fastening (both with phallic associations), “to bolt” means “to sift”
3 narrowly carefully
3 Mytilene chief town of the Greek island of Lesbos
4 gallants fashionable young men
4 mart market
6 creatures servants (i.e. whores)
7 but poor three only three
8 action sexual action
8 rotten diseased (“rot” means venereal disease)
9 fresh inexperienced/undiseased
10 if … trade if we don’t conscientiously provide our customers with good products (conscience also carries sexual puns: to have a ready conscience is to have an erection, and con is a slang term for the vagina)
12 ’Tis … bastards i.e. bringing up the prostitutes’ bastard children does not make us a profit
14 to … again and lowered them to prostitution as soon as they turned eleven
16 stuff prostitutes (used to refer to the genitals and to goods)
17 blow … pieces make them fall apart/disintegrate as a result of syphilis
17 sodden suffering from syphilis (i.e. stewed, as if in a sweating tub)
18 unwholesome diseased
19 o’conscience on my conscience (a mild expletive)
20 baggage slut
21 pooped infected or killed with venereal disease (“poop” is a slang term for female genitals)
22 roast … worms a meal for worms
22 roast meat a body corrupted by venereal disease
23 chequins Italian gold coins (zecchini), worth between seven shillings and nine shillings and sixpence
24 proportion portion/fortune
24 give over i.e. retire
25 get gain/make money (can also mean breed/copulate)
30 our … danger a good reputation isn’t gained as easily as profits (commodity), nor do the profits measure up to the risks (with a pun on commodity, referring to the whores)
28 if … hatched if we could earn enough while we were young, it would not be a mistake to close our door to business
30 sore severe
31 the … o’er the gods’ disapproval should encourage us to retire
32 sorts kinds/social ranks/professions
32 as … we in addition to us; Pander takes it to mean “as skillfully as we do”
34 profession career; puns on “profession” in the sense of “declaration of love”
34 calling vocation
36 Come your ways come along
38 gone through bargained (puns on “go,” to copulate)
38 piece piece of flesh: a pejorative term for a woman or girl
39 so well and good
39 earnest deposit
40 qualities accomplishments
42 there’s … refused i.e. these are all the qualities she needs
45 be bated get it reduced (by)
45 doit a small Dutch coin, worth around one-eighth of a penny (i.e. a negligible amount)
45 pieces gold pieces (often refers to the unite of James I, worth about twenty shillings)
47 presently immediately
48 raw unpolished
48 entertainment reception of her clients
49 marks characteristics
50 warrant assurance/guarantee
54 Performance shall follow I will do as you say (puns on sexual performance)
61 done their part done well by you/fulfilled their obligations in you
63 are light have fallen (light can also mean wanton/promiscuous)
63 like likely
64 fault misfortune
68 taste have sexual knowledge of
68 of all fashions of all kinds/manners
69 difference range/variety
70 complexions constitutions/appearances
72 an if
73 honest chaste/respectable
74 Marry by the Virgin Mary (a mild oath)
74 whip the gosling confound the little
fool; prostitutes were called geese, so a gosling might be a young or inexperienced prostitute
75 something … you have some trouble with you (with a sexual pun on do)
76 sapling a young tree
76 bowed made to bend
78 by by means of
79 comfort give (sexual pleasure) to
79 feed sexually gratify
79 stir you up arouse you
80 cried her advertised her
82 almost … hairs in minute detail/any number of times
87 testament will
88 went … to was aroused by
89 his best ruff may indicate the Spaniard’s pleasure at the report of Marina and has further sexual connotations: ruff was frequently used to refer to the female genitalia, and a torn ruff could be an emblem of the wearer’s moral frailty
91 Tonight, tonight! i.e. he’ll be here tonight
92 cowers i’th’hams is bowlegged, indicating his sexual debility
93 Veroles from French vérole, “syphilis”
94 offered attempted
94 cut a caper leap or dance for joy; to caper can also mean to fornicate
95 he … it the attempt made him groan in pain
97 he … hither he was already suffering from syphilis
98 repair cure/renew
98 in our shadow under our roof
99 scatter … sun refers to the baldness caused by syphilis and to French gold coins
100 traveller visitor (puns on “travail,” painful or laborious effort, used as a euphemism for sexual activity)
101 lodge house/intercept
101 this sign either the sign of the brothel or Marina herself
102 You … you i.e. you will earn a lot of money (with a sexual pun on coming upon)
104 despise seem to despise
106 makes encourages
107 mere clear
109 take her home talk plainly to her
110 present immediate
110 practice sexual activity
112 shame modesty/reluctance
112 which … warrant which she is entitled to do (may refer to the bride or to Marina)
113 Faith … not i.e. some of the brides are bashful, others are not
115 cut … spit cut some meat from the joint while it is still roasting/have sex with Marina before the customers do
118 manner fashion
121 sojourner guest
121 you’ll … custom i.e. the greater number of customers they have, the more Bolt will earn in tips
122 piece girl/masterpiece
122 this piece i.e. Marina
123 good turn favor/good sexual experience
123 paragon embodiment of perfection
125 warrant promise/assure
125 thunder … inclined just as thunder rouses eels from the mud, the description of Marina will (sexually) arouse the brothel’s customers (the phallic eels are paralleled with the customers’ penises)