The Winter's Tale (37 page)

²⁶
sanctity
holiness   

²⁹
fury
strong passion   

anon
presently   

³⁵
for
because   

³⁶
Perdita
literally “the lost one”   

³⁷
ungentle
ignoble/cruel   

³⁹
shrieks
ghosts were traditionally supposed to shriek in high-pitched voices   

⁴²
toys
trifles   

⁴⁴
squared
ruled   

⁴⁹
speed
fare, survive   

⁵⁰
character
written account of her history and parentage   

these
gold and jewels later found with the baby   

⁵¹
breed … thine
pay for your upbringing with sufficient left over   

⁵³
fault
crime   

⁵⁶
enjoined
committed, obliged   

⁵⁹
clamour
the noise of hunters and dogs or the roar of the bear   

⁶⁰
chase
hunt (of Antigonus)/hunted
bear
  

bear
a real polar bear cub was available at the time of the play's first performance, but some scholars assume an actor in bear costume   

⁶⁵
ancientry
elderly/ancestors   

⁶⁶
boiled-brains
idiots   

⁶⁷
this
in this   

⁷⁰
browsing of
feeding on   

an't be thy
if it be God's   

⁷¹
bairn
child   

⁷²
child
baby girl   

⁷³
scape
sexual transgression   

bookish
well-read   

⁷⁴
stair-work … behind-door-work
i.e. secret sexual liaisons (
work
plays on the sense of “sexual activity” and
trunk
plays on the sense of “body”)   

⁷⁶
warmer
i.e. from sexual activity   

got
begot, conceived   

⁷⁷
tarry
wait   

hallooed
called out   

⁷⁸
Clown
a rustic, comic character; the Shepherd's son   

⁸⁰
on
about   

⁸¹
ailest
troubles/prevents   

⁸⁵
firmament
sky   

bodkin's
pin/needle   

⁸⁷
chafes
seethes   

⁸⁸
takes up
consumes/rebukes   

⁹⁰
boring
piercing   

⁹¹
anon
then/shortly   

yeast
foam   

⁹²
hogshead
cask of alcohol   

land-service
combat on land/food served on land (i.e. events on land)   

⁹⁵
make … ship
finish the story of the ship/tell you how the ship met its end   

⁹⁶
flap-dragoned
consumed (as in a game of flapdragon, where raisins are plucked from burning brandy and swallowed)   

¹⁰¹
winked
shut my eyes   

¹⁰⁴
by
nearby   

¹⁰⁶
your … footing
you would have been unable to stand (
footing
puns on the sense of “establishment of a
charity
”)   

¹⁰⁷
Heavy
grave, sorrowful   

¹⁰⁸
met'st
met   

¹⁰⁹
bearing-cloth
christening robe   

¹¹⁰
squire
i.e. one of a relatively high social position   

¹¹²
changeling
child taken by the fairies, or the one substituted for it   

¹¹⁵
you're … live
you will live prosperously   

¹¹⁶
fairy gold
if not kept secret, riches brought by fairies were thought to bring bad luck   

¹¹⁷
close
secret   

next
nearest   

¹¹⁸
still
yet/always   

¹²²
curst
vicious   

¹²⁵
what
who   

¹²⁶
Marry
by the Virgin Mary   

¹
try
test (proverbial: “time tries all things”)   

both … Of
bringer of both joy and terror to the   

²
unfolds
reveals   

⁴
wings
Time was traditionally depicted as winged   

⁶
growth untried
development unexamined   

⁸
self-born
selfsame/self-created (by Time)   

⁹
plant and o'erwhelm
create and overrule   

¹⁰
ere … received
since the beginning of time, before the oldest laws and customs were set down and before those of the present day   

¹¹
witness
bear willing testimony   

¹²
them
i.e. law and custom   

do
be   

¹³
stale … present
redundant and past what is now fresh and gleaming   

¹⁵
seems to it
seems old in comparison to the present   

¹⁶
glass
hourglass   

¹⁷
As
as if   

Leontes … himself
leaving Leontes to the consequences of his foolish jealousies, so distraught he shuts himself away   

²⁰
Gentle
noble, wellborn/ excellent/polite, courteous   

²²
king's
i.e. Polixenes'   

²³
pace
proceed   

²⁵
Equal with wond'ring
as great as the admiration her
grace
inspires   

²⁶
list not prophesy
wish not to foretell   

²⁸
adheres
pertains   

²⁹
argument
subject matter   

³¹
yet
yet allow   

¹
importunate
persistent, urging   

²
'tis … denying
it makes me ill to deny   

³
fifteen
the discrepancy between Camillo's fifteen and Time's sixteen years may be a scribal error or a slip on Shakespeare's part   

⁴
been aired
lived   

⁶
feeling
heartfelt   

allay
comfort   

⁷
o'erween
presume   

¹¹
want
be without   

made me businesses
handled affairs for me   

¹⁵
considered
rewarded   

¹⁶
heaping friendships
growth of Camillo's kindnesses/increase of mutual friendship   

¹⁷
fatal
deadly   

²⁰
reconciled
remorseful, confessed   

²³
unhappy
miserable/unfortunate   

gracious
virtuous   

²⁴
approved
proved   

²⁸
missingly noted
noticed in his absence   

retired
absent   

²⁹
exercises
activities, pastimes   

³²
eyes … service
employees to watch him   

³³
removedness
absence/where he goes   

³⁷
unspeakable estate
indescribable wealth   

³⁹
rare note
exceptional report   

⁴⁰
begin
originate   

⁴²
angle
fishhook   

⁴⁴
question
conversation   

⁴⁵
uneasy
difficult   

⁴⁶
present
immediate   

Autolycus
literally, “the wolf himself” or “the lone wolf”; in classical mythology, he was a crafty thief   

¹
peer
peep out/appear   

²
doxy
whore/low woman   

³
sweet o'
sweetest part of   

⁴
pale
paleness/domain   

⁵
sheet … hedge
spring-cleaning involved washing linen, which was hung out to dry on hedges   

⁷
set … edge
unclear; the general sense seems to be “whet my appetite for thieving” (“to pug” means “to tug or pull,” hence possibly “to steal”); alternative possibility is sexual (“pug” meant mistress/whore and “tooth” was associated with desire, as in “toothsome”)   

¹¹
aunts
whores, wenches   

¹²
tumbling
having sex   

¹³
three-pile
costly thick velvet   

¹⁴
out of service
unemployed   

¹⁹
tinkers
menders of metal pots and kettles (also applied to beggars and thieves)   

leave to live
permission to live freely   

²⁰
sow-skin budget
pigskin toolbag   

stocks
instrument of punishment in which the arms or legs were confined   

²²
in … avouch it
affirm that I am a tinker (rather than a vagabond) and thus escape punishment   

²³
traffic
trade, goods   

kite … linen
the kite (a bird of prey) supposedly stole pieces of cloth to build its nest; Autolycus steals
sheets
that have been left out to dry   

²⁴
littered under
fathered by/born under the influence of (the connotations of animal birth recall Autolycus' wolfishness)   

²⁵
Mercury
Roman god of thieves/the planet   

unconsidered
disregarded, unattended   

²⁶
die
i.e. gambling   

drab
whoring/pimping   

caparison
clothing, outfit   

²⁷
silly cheat
petty deception/foolish victim of my trickery   

Gallows and knock
hanging and beating (punishments of a highwayman)   

²⁹
For … come
as for the future/the afterlife   

³¹
'leven wether tods
eleven sheep will produce 12 kg (a
tod
) of wool   

³²
odd
one   

³⁴
springe
trap   

cock
woodcock, a proverbially stupid bird   

³⁵
counters
round metal disks used for calculating   

³⁶
sheep-shearing feast
festival held between May and July; the shearing of the sheep was accompanied by general celebrations   

³⁹
lays it on
sets about it thoroughly   

made me
made   

⁴⁰
nosegays
posies of flowers