The Comedy of Errors (30 page)

241
threadbare
impoverished

241
juggler
sorcerer, illusionist

242
needy
poor/inadequate

242
sharp-looking
hungry-looking

243
pernicious
ruinous

244
Forsooth
in truth

244
took … as
assumed the role of

244
conjurer
exorcist

246
with … me
despite being so emaciated he appeared to have no face, he confronted me with his stare

249
dankish
dank, damp

249
vault
cellar, storeroom

251
sunder
two

271
impeach
charge

272
Circe’s cup
in Homer’s
Odyssey
Circe is the sorceress who changed men into beasts with a charmed drink

274
coldly
rationally

283
mated
bewildered

284
vouchsafe
permit

285
Haply
through chance

289
bondman
plays on the fact that the men were bound together

294
Ourselves … you
we recognize ourselves in your situation

297
strange
as a stranger

300
careful
full of anxiety

300
deformèd
disfiguring

301
defeatures
deformities/changes

303
Neither
nor that either

308
bound
plays on the fact that Egeon is tied up

310
cracked … tongue
aged and distorted my voice

311
seven short years
a slip; in Act 1, Egeon stated that he had been traveling for five years

312
feeble … cares
weak tone of my cracked voice

313
grainèd
wrinkled

314
sap-consuming … snow
i.e. the white hairs of his beard

315
conduits
veins

316
night of life
old age

317
wasting lamps
i.e. eyes

322
But
only

334
genius
attendant spirit thought to accompany and influence a man throughout his life

336
deciphers
distinguishes

345
at a burden
in one birth

348
morning story
i.e. the narrative related by Egeon in Act 1

348
right
precisely

350
semblance
appearance

351
urging of
focusing on

359
rude
violent

366
Stay
wait

370
Duke Menaphon
not mentioned elsewhere; the name appears in Marlowe’s
Tamburlaine
(1587) and
Greene’s Menaphon
(1589)

378
leisure
opportunity

389
still
repeatedly

391
are arose
did arise

395
cheer
entertainment

400
sympathizèd
shared

402
satisfaction
explanation/reparation

403
but … travail
still been in labor

407
calendars … nativity
i.e. the Dromios, who were born on the same day

408
gossips’
godparents’ (i.e. christening)

408
joy
enjoy

410
gossip at
participate in/converse at

412
embarked
loaded on the ship

413
at host
at the inn

417
friend
lover

418
kitchened me
entertained me in the kitchen

419
sister
sister-in-law

420
glass
mirror

425
cuts
lots