tioned; it depends upon certain notions, which may or may not be confirmed. 42. In my right. Cf. the phrase, in my behalf. 46. Wear = carry. 48. More sundry ways = in more various ways. (Sun dry comes from sunder; as several from sever.) 52. Open'd, disclosed or expanded, as leaves and buds are opened. 55. Confineless, limitless. Confine is here a noun, as in the phrase the confines of a country. 59. Sudden, violent. Smacking. Smack had, in Shakespeare's time, a much higher meaning than it has now. 62. Continent, in the literal meaning of the Lat. continens, restraining. As a noun, Shakespeare uses the word in the sense of an inclosing limit: 'Every pelting river made so proud, That they have overborne their continents.' 69. Convey, conduct, manage with secrecy. Spawith ample room. cious = 70. Hoodwink the time, blind your contemporaries. 71. So to be hoodwinked. = 72. Ill-compos'd, made up of evil ingredients. tion, disposition. 73. Stanchless, insatiable. 75. His, one man's jewels. Cl. P. S. -Affec 76. More-having increase in possessions. 'L'appétit vient en mangeant.' 77. Forge, a form (through French) of the word fabricate. Forge is Latin at second-hand; fabricate at firsthand. Cf. potion and poison; tradition and treason; legal and loyal; and many more. 81. Summer-seeming, appearing like summer, and going away like summer. 83. Foisons (only here in plural), plenty or rich harvest. From O. Fr. fuison; from Low Lat. fusio, a pouring out; Lat. fundere (effusion, profusion, etc.). 84. Your mere own = entirely your own. endurable. - Portable, 85. With other graces weighed, compensated by other graces. Cl. P. S. 87. Verity=veracity.Stableness = stability. -Temperance, self-control. 90. Relish, tinge or tincture. 99. Untitled without a regular title. = 100. Wholesome days days of health. Wholesome is an adjective from heal; and the w is intrusive and inorganic. 102. Interdiction, curses self-pronounced. 103. Blaspheme, slander. From Gr. blasphemein, to speak ill of. The shortened form of the word (through French) is blame. - Breed = race. 106. Died every day. An allusion to the expression of St. Paul, 'To die unto sin, and live unto righteousness.' 107. Repeat'st upon, reiterated against. 113. These trains, baits, devices, and plans - such as those thou hast laid before me. 118. Unspeak, retract or unsay. Shakespeare's use of un is very variable. - Forsworn, per 120. For strangers: = as strangers. jured to any one. There are in English two senses of the prefix for — a negative, as in forswear, forbid, forgo (= go without, wrongly spelled forego), forget, forgive; and an intensive force, forlorn (= utterly lost), fordone (= done up), forbear, etc. 127. Here-approach, coming hither. 129. At a point, prepared, ready for the signal to march. 130. Goodness, success. The only instance of the word May our success be like the justice of with this sense. (= warranted) quarrel! 131. Warranted quarrel our quarrel. 135. Crew, used in the sense of crowd. 136. Stay his cure, await his royal touch, which will cure them. Convinces, defeats. 137. The great assay of art great art. king's evil.' the assay (attack) of His touch. Hence scrofula was called 'the 143. Solicits, moves or stirs. 144. Strangely-visited, attacked by strange diseases. Defoe, in his account of the Great Plague of London, speaks 148. Prayers. 'A form of prayer to be used at the ceremony of touching for the king's evil was introduced into the Book of Common Prayer as early as 1684.' 153. Speak him, declare him to be. 161. Once, ever. 164. A modern ecstasy, an ordinary excitement. Shakespeare never uses modern in the modern sense; his meaning is always that of commonplace or trite. 168. Nice, detailed. In describing a picture full of details, Shakespeare says, 'The painter was so nice.' Cf. also the old proverb, 'More nice than wise.' 170. Teems, brings forth. 171. Well. Said of the dead. 177. Out up in arms. Shakespeare also uses out in the sense of abroad. 182. Doff = do off. So don; dup (= do up, or op-en); dout (= put out). 186. Gives out, shows. 189. Latch, catch. Cog.: Latchet. 190. Fee-grief, a grief with a private owner. form of the word fief. 196. Possess them, fill them. Fee is a 200. Quarry. There are two words in English with this spelling: (1) a stone-mine, from Low Lat. quadrare, to make square; (2) prey, from O. Fr. corée; from Lat. cor, the heart. (The heart and entrails were given to the hunting-dogs.) 204. O'erfraught, overladen. Cog.: Freight. Seneca says, Curæ leves loquuntur, ingentes stupent.' 210. He has no children. Macduff's mind goes casting about thinking how Macbeth could possibly do it. It has also been supposed that Macduff is meditating a like revenge. 213. Swoop of the hell-kite. 214. Dispute it, strive against your grief. 222. Whetstone, sharpening-stone. Cf. to whet the appetite. 223. Convert, change. 226. Intermission, delay. 229. Manly for manlily. Adjectives that end in ly are frequently used as adverbs without the additional ly. 231. Our lack is nothing, all we want now. 232. Ripe for shaking, a metaphor from a fruit tree. 233. Put on, set to work. ACT FIFTH SCENE 1 Macbeth is in the field; Lady Macbeth is alone, and ill. Prose is employed, because the pain and horror have become too intense and too literal and matter-of-fact to be raised into the level of poetry. The hard fact of the murder will not be assimilated. 5. Night-gown, dressing-gown. 8. Fast, sound. 10. Effects, acts. = 11. Slumbery agitation agitation in slumber. Slumbery very well illustrates Shakespeare's use of adjectives. English adjectives not being inflected, they can be applied to nouns very loosely; and Shakespeare takes great liberties with them. Thus, in Winter's Tale, V. v.: A bloody fire stands for a fire in the blood; old woes for the woes of old people; the slow offence for the offence of slowness. 19. Lo, a broken-down form of look. 30. Continue in this a quarter of an hour. This is the practical comment on her boast in II. ii. 67, 'A little water clears us of this deed.' 31. Yet for all this washing. 33. Satisfy, free from all doubt and uncertainty. 41. The thane of Fife had a wife. Her mind goes wandering and stumbling about from crime to crime. 52. Sorely charged = heavily burdened. 55. Dignity of the whole body. Though all the rest of the body were raised to the highest dignity. 57. It be well. = 76. Means of all annoyance, by which she might do harm to herself. Annoyance (like smart pain) had a stronger meaning in Shakespeare's time than it now has. 78. Mated, bewildered, confounded. SCENE 2 3. Revenges, used four times by Shakespeare in the plural. Dear causes, causes which concern them so closely. 4. Alarm, the call to arms. |