126 giving out advertising
126 stirs up arouses
127 lewdly inclined lecherous
128 Come your ways come along
130 Untried … keep i.e. I will protect my virginity
131 aid my purpose i.e. help me
Act 4 Scene 3
4.3 Location: Tarsus
7 blood rank/social status
8 crown ruler
9 i’th’justice of compare in a fair comparison
11 drunk … face if Dionyza had merely toasted him, sparing his life, it would have been an act that suited her appearance better
15 Nurses … preserve those who look after a child cannot control its destiny as the Fates can, to raise it is not to make it live forever
16 cross deny
18 for … attribute to get a reputation for honesty
20 go to an expression of irritation
24 petty small/weak
24 petty … Pericles alludes to the folklore tradition in which secret murders are revealed by birds
24 hence from here
25 open reveal
29 but … consent merely gave his approval, not his initial consent
29 approbation expression of approval
30 did not would not
30 flow … courses derive from honorable origins (courses)
33 came dead i.e. came to be dead
38 blurted at derided
38 malkin wench/slut
39 Not … day not worth greeting
40 course course of action
41 You … loving i.e. because you don’t love your own child very much
42 greets me presents itself to me
42 enterprise of kindness action motivated by natural affection
46 yet still
47 epitaphs inscriptions on her tomb
48 characters letters
49 general universal
51 like … talons like the treacherous harpy, which uses its angelic face to deceive its victims, giving it the opportunity to seize them with its eagle’s talons
51 harpy mythological creature with a woman’s face and torso and a bird of prey’s wings and claws
55 swear … flies complain to the gods about something as natural as the winter killing flies/blame the death of flies on winter, rather than acknowledging your own guilt
Act 4 Second Chorus
1 waste quickly pass over
1 leagues distances (a league is around three miles)
2 cockles seashells/small shell-shaped boats
2 and … for’t just by wishing for it
3 Making to proceeding to (usually applied to ships)
4 bourn boundary/limit
6 several different clime country/region
8 i’th’gaps in time gaps (between the scenes represented)
9 stages … story i.e. both the periods of time and the places in which events occurred
10 thwarting crossing/defying
10 wayward contrary/hostile
15 late recently
16 time due time
18 Think … on imagine that thought pilots Pericles, and let your imagination go with the steering of his ship
21 motes specks of dust/particles
21 shadows spirits/illusions
22 Your … reconcile i.e. I’ll explain what you see
23 foul show hypocrisy
24 borrowed pretended/assumed
24 stands for stands in for
29 bears carries (with him/inside him)
30 tempest i.e. raging emotions
30 mortal vessel i.e. his body
31 rides it out survives it
31 wit understand/be assured (perhaps archaic)
32 is that is
39 Thetis … bestowed the sea (Thetis—a sea nymph and the mother of the Greek hero Achilles, often confused [as here] with Tethys, the sister and wife of Oceanus) swelled with pride at the birth of Marina (Thetis’ birth-child), and the land, afraid of being swamped (o’erflowed), decided to give Marina to the heavens
42 she i.e. Thetis
42 stint cease
43 Make … flint furiously beating against the rocky shore
44 visor mask
47 bear permit
47 courses life (with a nautical pun: a course is the direction in which a ship sails)
47 orderèd managed/dictated
48 scene stage
49 heavy sorrowful
49 well-a-day lamentation, grief
Act 4 Scene 4
4.4 Location: Mytilene
4 divinity moral statements/talk about divine things
6 bawdy houses brothels
7 shall’s shall we (“shall us”)
7 vestals Vestal Virgins
9 road path; also a euphemism for the vagina
9 rutting sexual activity
2 I … here I would rather have lost twice what she is worth than have had her come here
3 Priapus god of fertility and lechery
4 undo … generation prevent the conception of the next generation/make a whole generation unhappy/ruin us financially
5 do … fitment do that which is fitting/proper (with a sexual pun on fit)
6 kindness goodness/sexual favor
7 quirks verbal tricks/quibbles
7 master main/principal
8 puritan person with strict (or apparently strict) religious or moral convictions
9 cheapen bargain for
10 disfurnish strip/deprive
11 cavalleria society of knights/gentlemen (from Italian), i.e. the regular customers of the brothel
11 swearers people who use bad language/delinquents
12 green-sickness chlorosis, an anemic disease (a metaphor for female sexual squeamishness)
12 for me as far as I’m concerned
13 rid on’t rid of it
13 the … pox i.e. sexual intercourse
15 loon rogue/commoner
15 peevish silly/spiteful/perverse/coy
16 baggage a worthless or immoral woman/slut
16 give way yield sexually
17 how how much for
18 the … bless I pray the gods to bless/may the gods bless entirely
20 that … legs if your clients (resorters) appear healthy (sound) (with a sexual pun on stand)
21 Wholesome iniquity healthy sin
22 deal withal have sexual dealings with
26 deeds of darkness sexual acts (a common euphemism)
27 what … say what I am saying
29 flesh woman in a sexual capacity/whore/penis
29 blood seat of sexual appetite/semen/may also refer to menstrual or hymeneal blood
29 white and red a conventional description of female beauty
30 rose maid/maidenhead
30 if … but— the missing words are probably “a thorn”; Bolt says that Marina is sexually inexperienced: she would be a true rose if only she would have (i.e. accept) a thorn (i.e. a penis)
32 modest decorous/chaste
33 That … chaste i.e. modesty gives a bawd a good reputation (renown), no less than it gives a good character (report) to any number of (probably unchaste) people
35 that … yet is a still virgin; Bolt reduces Marina to her virginity, which is a rose whose stalk has not yet been broken in being plucked
37 she … sea she would satisfy a sex-starved traveler
40 have done presently be done soon
42 note pay attention to the fact that
44 worthily note pay due respect to
46 bound obliged
47 bound subject
48 in that i.e. in his government
49 virginal fencing quibbling about/defense of your virginity
50 use him kindly treat him pleasantly/acquiesce to his sexual needs
50 He … gold he will reward you financially and (it is implied) sexually (line, co
pulate with; white aprons were associated with whores)
51 graciously virtuously/through divine grace
53 she’s … yet she hasn’t yet been trained sexually
53 paced smooth in her gait (used of a horse)
54 work … manage train her
54 manage training of a horse
55 Go thy ways go along
57 trade profession, i.e. prostitution (euphemistically referred to as trade)
64 go to’t i.e. have sexual intercourse
64 gamester prostitute
68 creature of sale whore
69 resort attracting such clientele; “house of resort” is a euphemistic term for a brothel
70 parts qualities
72 principal mistress (i.e. the Bawd)
75 herb-woman a euphemistic title for the Bawd, playing on the sexual associations of seed and root in the following lines sets … iniquity plants and nurtures sinful activities, with sexual puns on seed (semen) and root (penis)
78 my … thee i.e. I will wink at your offenses
81 If … now if you were born to rule, prove it
82 If … it if you were appointed to rule/have risen to noble status, validate the judgment of those who thought you worthy of that position
84 sage wise/discreet
87 sty brothel
88 Diseases … physic i.e. it costs more to buy a venereal disease (through buying a whore) than it does to pay for the treatment
91 meanest most humble
97 clear blameless/unstained
100 be you thoughten assure yourself
102 savour smell/reek
103 piece of virtue virtuous woman/outstanding example
104 training upbringing/education
110 Avaunt begone/go away
110 doorkeeper pander
111 prop it hold it up
113 course course of action
114 peevish silly/spiteful/perverse/coy
115 cope canopy (the sky)
116 spaniel proverbially submissive dog
117 Whither … me? what do you want of me, plays on sexual sense of “have”
119 hangman … it or I’ll have you executed (pun on maidenhead makes a common equation between sex and death)
128 dealt … nobleman i.e. liberally (in his sexual behavior and/or his financial reward)
131 crack … virginity take her virginity by force (glass alludes to the fragility of the hymen and of women’s sexual reputation)
133 An if if/even if
133 thornier … ground i.e. an even more resistant victim (ground, woman as land vulnerable to tillage)
134 ploughed penetrated/raped
136 conjures invokes supernatural aid
138 Marry, come up an exclamation used to express indignant or amused surprise or contempt
139 rosemary used in cooking and as a decoration at weddings and funerals; recommended by some herbalists to induce menstruation or abortion
139 bays bay leaves are also used in cooking (perhaps puns on bay, vagina)
142 the jewel i.e. her virginity
144 thing with leering innuendo (thing can mean female genitalia)
145 What … be? i.e. what is the worst thing you could wish upon your enemy
149 do … command have the advantage of having authority over you
150 place position/job
150 painèd’st most tormented
151 change exchange
152 doorkeeper pander
153 Coistrel knave, scoundrel
153 Tib whore (a pet form of “Isabel,” a general name for prostitutes)
154 To … liable you are vulnerable to the angry attack (choleric fisting) of any rogue
155 thy … lungs i.e. you take nourishment from something that is unhealthy
158 would you would you have me
158 for … leg only to end up losing a leg
162 receptacles containers/vessels
162 shores waterside rubbish dumps or sewage channels
163 by indenture on a contract/as an apprentice
165 professest make a profession of
165 baboon baboons were proverbially lustful
166 own … dear value his reputation too highly
170 virtues accomplishments
176 basest groom lowest scoundrel
180 honest virtuous/chaste
181 my … little I have few friends
185 tractable compliant/cooperative
186 Come your ways come along
Act 5 Chorus 1
3 she … goddess-like i.e. she dances as well as she sings
4 lays songs
5 Deep learned/erudite
5 clerks scholars
5 dumbs reduces to silence
5 nee’le needle
7 sisters closely resembles
8 inkle linen tape/linen thread
8 silk silk thread or the silk on which she embroiders
8 twin are identical to
8 rubied red
19 His its
19 sable black (used in heraldry)
20 hies hurries
21 supposing imagination
22 heavy sorrowful
22 bark ship
23 what … action i.e. what is acted
23 if might if it were possible
Act 5 Scene 1
5.1 Location: off the shore of Mytilene
1 resolve satisfy/answer
9 some of worth someone of rank/value
10 fairly cordially/politely
12 aught you would anything you would like to know
14 reverent worthy of respect
16 die … do i.e. die honorably
18 triumphs festivities
21 place position/rank
24 this the past
26 prorogue prolong
27 Upon … distemperature? What is the cause of his mental disturbance?
28 tedious painful/tiresome
32 bootless fruitless/unavailing
36 mortal fatal
45 chosen choice/special
45 allure win over
47 make … stopped i.e. penetrate the parts of his body which are currently so deafened that attempts to communicate can get only halfway in
48 all happy endowed with all good qualities
52 effectless useless
53 bears recovery’s name can be called a cure
60 graft grafted plant
61 inflict afflict (with famine)
62 at large without restraint/in detail
67 present i.e. gift which may restore Pericles to health
68 gallant fine/splendid
70 gentle kind honorable/descent
70 stock family/ancestry
71 rarely wed i.e. married to an exceptional person
72 consists is embodied/resides
74 prosperous beneficial
74 artificial feat skillful accomplishment
75 aught anything
76 physic treatment/medicine
80 suffered allowed
83 The Song see text at end of Textual Notes, this page
84 Marked he did he notice
93 justly weighed assessed equally
94 wayward hostile/erratic
94 did … state was hostile toward my welfare
97 rooted out torn up
98 awkward casualties perverse mishaps
100 something … ear i.e. something tells me
100 glows flushes with expectation
107 what countrywoman? i.e. what is your nationality
112 great pregnant/heavy
112 deliver give birth/speak
114 square brows high and broad forehead
115 as wand-like straight as straight as a rod
117 cased enclosed
117 pace gait, movement
117 Juno Roman goddess, wife of Jupiter, renowned for stately beauty
118 starves … speech i.e. the mo
re she says, the more they want to hear
124 to owe by owning them
129 Modest as justice alludes to the virginal goddess of justice, Astraea
129 thou … in i.e. you seem to be virtuous enough for truth to make its home in you
131 relation story
132 To even to
133 friends relatives
141 opened revealed/made plain
144 warrant tell/assure likely appropriate
147 my endurance what I have endured
149 Patience i.e. a statue of Patience on a tomb
150 Extremity hardship
150 act action
172 Motion? i.e. can you move
180 Delivered weeping said tearfully
182 dulled gloomy/lethargic
183 withal with
184 buried who I thought was buried
188 by the syllable in every word
194 drawn drawn his sword
197 Whither … me? i.e. where are your questions leading
198 imposture impostor
198 good faith truly
200 be lives
204 general all things
205 like likely
209 Speaks who speaks
212 still silent/motionless
214 Give … gash wound me
214 present immediate
216 O’erbear overwhelm
218 beget’st gives life to
222 as … us with shouts as loud as the thunder with which they threaten us
225 did ever sleep were laid to rest
239 When whereupon
239 justify in knowledge assure yourself beyond all doubt
245 wild … beholding made delirious by what I see
248 doubt have suspicions about
249 sure certainly
252 music … spheres harmony supposedly produced by the movement of stars and planets on the concentric spheres thought to surround the earth
252 List listen
253 cross contradict/challenge
254 Rarest most splendid/exceptional
257 nips compels
261 answer … belief prove true, as I expect
262 well remember recall you vividly/reward you handsomely
263 Hie thee thither go there quickly
265 maiden virginal, chaste
268 crosses trials/misfortunes
268 Call speak out loudly/declare
269 give … life describe them faithfully
271 silver bow i.e. crescent moon
273 argentine silvery
276 purpose was for intention was to go to
279 blown swollen/wind-driven
279 eftsoons shortly
Act 5 Second Chorus
2 More a little a little more
3 boon request/favor
5 aptly easily/readily
7 minstrelsy noisy music
7 pretty din pleasing noise
11 wise way