READ STUDY GUIDE: Act III, scenes ii–iii |
|
Act III, Scene ii
| [Enter OBERON.] |
| OBERON |
| I wonder if Titania be awak'd; |
| Then, what it was that next came in her eye, |
| Which she must dote on in extremity. |
| [Enter PUCK.] |
| Here comes my messenger.—How now, mad spirit? |
| What night-rule now about this haunted grove? |
| PUCK |
| My mistress with a monster is in love. |
| Near to her close and consecrated bower, |
| While she was in her dull and sleeping hour, |
| A crew of patches, rude mechanicals, |
| That work for bread upon Athenian stalls, |
| Were met together to rehearse a play |
| Intended for great Theseus' nuptial day. |
| The shallowest thickskin of that barren sort |
| Who Pyramus presented in their sport, |
| Forsook his scene and enter'd in a brake; |
| When I did him at this advantage take, |
| An ass's nowl I fixed on his head; |
| Anon, his Thisbe must be answered, |
| And forth my mimic comes. When they him spy, |
| As wild geese that the creeping fowler eye, |
| Or russet-pated choughs, many in sort, |
| Rising and cawing at the gun's report, |
| Sever themselves and madly sweep the sky, |
| So at his sight away his fellows fly: |
| And at our stamp here, o'er and o'er one falls; |
| He murder cries, and help from Athens calls. |
| Their sense thus weak, lost with their fears, thus strong, |
| Made senseless things begin to do them wrong; |
| For briers and thorns at their apparel snatch; |
| Some sleeves, some hats: from yielders all things catch. |
| I led them on in this distracted fear, |
| And left sweet Pyramus translated there: |
| When in that moment,—so it came to pass,— |
| Titania wak'd, and straightway lov'd an ass. |
| OBERON |
| This falls out better than I could devise. |
| But hast thou yet latch'd the Athenian's eyes |
| With the love-juice, as I did bid thee do? |
| PUCK |
| I took him sleeping,—that is finish'd too,— |
| And the Athenian woman by his side; |
| That, when he wak'd, of force she must be ey'd. |
| [Enter DEMETRIUS and HERMIA.] |
| OBERON |
| Stand close; this is the same Athenian. |
| PUCK |
| This is the woman, but not this the man. |
| DEMETRIUS |
| O, why rebuke you him that loves you so? |
| Lay breath so bitter on your bitter foe. |
| HERMIA |
| Now I but chide, but I should use thee worse; |
| For thou, I fear, hast given me cause to curse. |
| If thou hast slain Lysander in his sleep, |
| Being o'er shoes in blood, plunge in the deep, |
| And kill me too. |
| The sun was not so true unto the day |
| As he to me: would he have stol'n away |
| From sleeping Hermia? I'll believe as soon |
| This whole earth may be bor'd; and that the moon |
| May through the centre creep and so displease |
| Her brother's noontide with the antipodes. |
| It cannot be but thou hast murder'd him; |
| So should a murderer look; so dead, so grim. |
| DEMETRIUS |
| So should the murder'd look; and so should I, |
| Pierc'd through the heart with your stern cruelty: |
| Yet you, the murderer, look as bright, as clear, |
| As yonder Venus in her glimmering sphere. |
| HERMIA |
| What's this to my Lysander? where is he? |
| Ah, good Demetrius, wilt thou give him me? |
| DEMETRIUS |
| I had rather give his carcass to my hounds. |
| HERMIA |
| Out, dog! out, cur! thou driv'st me past the bounds |
| Of maiden's patience. Hast thou slain him, then? |
| Henceforth be never number'd among men! |
| Oh! once tell true; tell true, even for my sake; |
| Durst thou have look'd upon him, being awake, |
| And hast thou kill'd him sleeping? O brave touch! |
| Could not a worm, an adder, do so much? |
| An adder did it; for with doubler tongue |
| Than thine, thou serpent, never adder stung. |
| DEMETRIUS |
| You spend your passion on a mispris'd mood: |
| I am not guilty of Lysander's blood; |
| Nor is he dead, for aught that I can tell. |
| HERMIA |
| I pray thee, tell me, then, that he is well. |
| DEMETRIUS |
| An if I could, what should I get therefore? |
| HERMIA |
| A privilege never to see me more.— |
| And from thy hated presence part I so: |
| See me no more whether he be dead or no. |
| [Exit.] |
| DEMETRIUS |
| There is no following her in this fierce vein: |
| Here, therefore, for a while I will remain. |
| So sorrow's heaviness doth heavier grow |
| For debt that bankrupt sleep doth sorrow owe; |
| Which now in some slight measure it will pay, |
| If for his tender here I make some stay. |
| [Lies down.] |
| OBERON |
| What hast thou done? thou hast mistaken quite, |
| And laid the love-juice on some true-love's sight: |
| Of thy misprision must perforce ensue |
| Some true love turn'd, and not a false turn'd true. |
| PUCK |
| Then fate o'er-rules, that, one man holding troth, |
| A million fail, confounding oath on oath. |
| OBERON |
| About the wood go, swifter than the wind, |
| And Helena of Athens look thou find: |
| All fancy-sick she is, and pale of cheer, |
| With sighs of love, that costs the fresh blood dear. |
| By some illusion see thou bring her here; |
| I'll charm his eyes against she do appear. |
| PUCK |
| I go, I go; look how I go,— |
| Swifter than arrow from the Tartar's bow. |
| [Exit.] |
| OBERON |
 Flower of this purple dye, |
| Hit with Cupid's archery, |
| Sink in apple of his eye! |
| When his love he doth espy, |
| Let her shine as gloriously |
| As the Venus of the sky.— |
| When thou wak'st, if she be by, |
| Beg of her for remedy. |
| [Re-enter PUCK.] |
| PUCK |
| Captain of our fairy band, |
| Helena is here at hand, |
| And the youth mistook by me |
| Pleading for a lover's fee; |
| Shall we their fond pageant see? |
| Lord, what fools these mortals be! |
| OBERON |
| Stand aside: the noise they make |
| Will cause Demetrius to awake. |
| PUCK |
| Then will two at once woo one,— |
| That must needs be sport alone; |
| And those things do best please me |
| That befall preposterously. |
| [Enter LYSANDER and HELENA.] |
| LYSANDER |
| Why should you think that I should woo in scorn? |
| Scorn and derision never come in tears. |
| Look when I vow, I weep; and vows so born, |
| In their nativity all truth appears. |
| How can these things in me seem scorn to you, |
| Bearing the badge of faith, to prove them true? |
| HELENA |
| You do advance your cunning more and more. |
| When truth kills truth, O devilish-holy fray! |
| These vows are Hermia's: will you give her o'er? |
| Weigh oath with oath, and you will nothing weigh: |
| Your vows to her and me, put in two scales, |
| Will even weigh; and both as light as tales. |
| LYSANDER |
| I had no judgment when to her I swore. |
| HELENA |
| Nor none, in my mind, now you give her o'er. |
| LYSANDER |
| Demetrius loves her, and he loves not you. |
| DEMETRIUS |
| [Awaking.] |
| O Helen, goddess, nymph, perfect, divine! |
| To what, my love, shall I compare thine eyne? |
| Crystal is muddy. O, how ripe in show |
| Thy lips, those kissing cherries, tempting grow! |
| That pure congealed white, high Taurus' snow, |
| Fann'd with the eastern wind, turns to a crow |
| When thou hold'st up thy hand: O, let me kiss |
| This princess of pure white, this seal of bliss! |
| HELENA |
| O spite! O hell! I see you all are bent |
| To set against me for your merriment. |
| If you were civil, and knew courtesy, |
| You would not do me thus much injury. |
| Can you not hate me, as I know you do, |
| But you must join in souls to mock me too? |
| If you were men, as men you are in show, |
| You would not use a gentle lady so; |
| To vow, and swear, and superpraise my parts, |
| When I am sure you hate me with your hearts. |
| You both are rivals, and love Hermia; |
| And now both rivals, to mock Helena: |
| A trim exploit, a manly enterprise, |
| To conjure tears up in a poor maid's eyes |
| With your derision! None of noble sort |
| Would so offend a virgin, and extort |
| A poor soul's patience, all to make you sport. |
| LYSANDER |
| You are unkind, Demetrius; be not so; |
| For you love Hermia: this you know I know: |
| And here, with all good will, with all my heart, |
| In Hermia's love I yield you up my part; |
| And yours of Helena to me bequeath, |
| Whom I do love and will do till my death. |
| HELENA |
| Never did mockers waste more idle breath. |
| DEMETRIUS |
| Lysander, keep thy Hermia; I will none: |
| If e'er I lov'd her, all that love is gone. |
| My heart to her but as guest-wise sojourn'd; |
| And now to Helen is it home return'd, |
| There to remain. |
| LYSANDER |
| Helen, it is not so. |
| DEMETRIUS |
| Disparage not the faith thou dost not know, |
| Lest, to thy peril, thou aby it dear.— |
| Look where thy love comes; yonder is thy dear. |
| [Enter HERMIA.] |
| HERMIA |
| Dark night, that from the eye his function takes, |
| The ear more quick of apprehension makes; |
| Wherein it doth impair the seeing sense, |
| It pays the hearing double recompense:— |
| Thou art not by mine eye, Lysander, found; |
| Mine ear, I thank it, brought me to thy sound. |
| But why unkindly didst thou leave me so? |
| LYSANDER |
| Why should he stay whom love doth press to go? |
| HERMIA |
| What love could press Lysander from my side? |
| LYSANDER |
| Lysander's love, that would not let him bide,— |
| Fair Helena,—who more engilds the night |
| Than all yon fiery oes and eyes of light. |
| Why seek'st thou me? could not this make thee know |
| The hate I bare thee made me leave thee so? |
| HERMIA |
| You speak not as you think; it cannot be. |
| HELENA |
| Lo, she is one of this confederacy! |
| Now I perceive they have conjoin'd all three |
| To fashion this false sport in spite of me. |
| Injurious Hermia! most ungrateful maid! |
| Have you conspir'd, have you with these contriv'd, |
| To bait me with this foul derision? |
| Is all the counsel that we two have shar'd, |
| The sisters' vows, the hours that we have spent, |
| When we have chid the hasty-footed time |
| For parting us,—O, is all forgot? |
| All school-days' friendship, childhood innocence? |
| We, Hermia, like two artificial gods, |
| Have with our needles created both one flower, |
| Both on one sampler, sitting on one cushion, |
| Both warbling of one song, both in one key; |
| As if our hands, our sides, voices, and minds, |
| Had been incorporate. So we grew together, |
| Like to a double cherry, seeming parted; |
| But yet a union in partition, |
| Two lovely berries moulded on one stem: |
| So, with two seeming bodies, but one heart; |
| Two of the first, like coats in heraldry, |
| Due but to one, and crowned with one crest. |
| And will you rent our ancient love asunder, |
| To join with men in scorning your poor friend? |
| It is not friendly, 'tis not maidenly: |
| Our sex, as well as I, may chide you for it, |
| Though I alone do feel the injury. |
| HERMIA |
| I am amazed at your passionate words: |
| I scorn you not; it seems that you scorn me. |
| HELENA |
| Have you not set Lysander, as in scorn, |
| To follow me, and praise my eyes and face? |
| And made your other love, Demetrius,— |
| Who even but now did spurn me with his foot,— |
| To call me goddess, nymph, divine, and rare, |
| Precious, celestial? Wherefore speaks he this |
| To her he hates? and wherefore doth Lysander |
| Deny your love, so rich within his soul, |
| And tender me, forsooth, affection, |
| But by your setting on, by your consent? |
| What though I be not so in grace as you, |
| So hung upon with love, so fortunate; |
| But miserable most, to love unlov'd? |
| This you should pity rather than despise. |
| HERMIA |
| I understand not what you mean by this. |
| HELENA |
| Ay, do persever, counterfeit sad looks, |
| Make mows upon me when I turn my back; |
| Wink each at other; hold the sweet jest up: |
| This sport, well carried, shall be chronicled. |
| If you have any pity, grace, or manners, |
| You would not make me such an argument. |
| But fare ye well: 'tis partly my own fault; |
| Which death, or absence, soon shall remedy. |
| LYSANDER |
| Stay, gentle Helena; hear my excuse; |
| My love, my life, my soul, fair Helena! |
| HELENA |
| O excellent! |
| HERMIA |
| Sweet, do not scorn her so. |
| DEMETRIUS |
| If she cannot entreat, I can compel. |
| LYSANDER |
| Thou canst compel no more than she entreat; |
| Thy threats have no more strength than her weak prayers.— |
| Helen, I love thee; by my life I do; |
| I swear by that which I will lose for thee |
| To prove him false that says I love thee not. |
| DEMETRIUS |
| I say I love thee more than he can do. |
| LYSANDER |
| If thou say so, withdraw, and prove it too. |
| DEMETRIUS |
| Quick, come,— |
| HERMIA |
| Lysander, whereto tends all this? |
| LYSANDER |
| Away, you Ethiope! |
| DEMETRIUS |
| No, no, sir:—he will |
| Seem to break loose; take on as you would follow: |
| But yet come not. You are a tame man; go! |
| LYSANDER |
| Hang off, thou cat, thou burr: vile thing, let loose, |
| Or I will shake thee from me like a serpent. |
| HERMIA |
| Why are you grown so rude? what change is this, |
| Sweet love? |
| LYSANDER |
| Thy love! out, tawny Tartar, out! |
| Out, loathed medicine! hated potion, hence! |
| HERMIA |
| Do you not jest? |
| HELENA |
| Yes, sooth; and so do you. |
| LYSANDER |
| Demetrius, I will keep my word with thee. |
| DEMETRIUS |
| I would I had your bond; for I perceive |
| A weak bond holds you; I'll not trust your word. |
| LYSANDER |
| What! should I hurt her, strike her, kill her dead? |
| Although I hate her, I'll not harm her so. |
| HERMIA |
| What! can you do me greater harm than hate? |
| Hate me! wherefore? O me! what news, my love? |
| Am not I Hermia? Are not you Lysander? |
| I am as fair now as I was erewhile. |
| Since night you lov'd me; yet since night you left me: |
| Why then, you left me,—O, the gods forbid!— |
| In earnest, shall I say? |
| LYSANDER |
| Ay, by my life; |
| And never did desire to see thee more. |
| Therefore be out of hope, of question, doubt, |
| Be certain, nothing truer; 'tis no jest |
| That I do hate thee and love Helena. |
| HERMIA |
| O me! you juggler! you cankerblossom! |
| You thief of love! What! have you come by night, |
| And stol'n my love's heart from him? |
| HELENA |
| Fine, i' faith! |
| Have you no modesty, no maiden shame, |
| No touch of bashfulness? What! will you tear |
| Impatient answers from my gentle tongue? |
| Fie, fie! you counterfeit, you puppet, you! |
| HERMIA |
| Puppet! why so? Ay, that way goes the game. |
| Now I perceive that she hath made compare |
| Between our statures; she hath urg'd her height; |
| And with her personage, her tall personage, |
| Her height, forsooth, she hath prevail'd with him.— |
| And are you grown so high in his esteem |
| Because I am so dwarfish and so low? |
| How low am I, thou painted maypole? speak; |
| How low am I? I am not yet so low |
| But that my nails can reach unto thine eyes. |
| HELENA |
| I pray you, though you mock me, gentlemen, |
| Let her not hurt me. I was never curst; |
| I have no gift at all in shrewishness; |
| I am a right maid for my cowardice; |
| Let her not strike me. You perhaps may think, |
| Because she is something lower than myself, |
| That I can match her. |
| HERMIA |
| Lower! hark, again. |
| HELENA |
| Good Hermia, do not be so bitter with me. |
| I evermore did love you, Hermia; |
| Did ever keep your counsels; never wrong'd you; |
| Save that, in love unto Demetrius, |
| I told him of your stealth unto this wood: |
| He follow'd you; for love I follow'd him; |
| But he hath chid me hence, and threaten'd me |
| To strike me, spurn me, nay, to kill me too: |
| And now, so you will let me quiet go, |
| To Athens will I bear my folly back, |
| And follow you no farther. Let me go: |
| You see how simple and how fond I am. |
| HERMIA |
| Why, get you gone: who is't that hinders you? |
| HELENA |
| A foolish heart that I leave here behind. |
| HERMIA |
| What! with Lysander? |
| HELENA |
| With Demetrius. |
| LYSANDER |
| Be not afraid; she shall not harm thee, Helena. |
| DEMETRIUS |
| No, sir, she shall not, though you take her part. |
| HELENA |
| O, when she's angry, she is keen and shrewd: |
| She was a vixen when she went to school; |
| And, though she be but little, she is fierce. |
| HERMIA |
| Little again! nothing but low and little!— |
| Why will you suffer her to flout me thus? |
| Let me come to her. |
| LYSANDER |
| Get you gone, you dwarf; |
| You minimus, of hind'ring knot-grass made; |
| You bead, you acorn. |
| DEMETRIUS |
| You are too officious |
| In her behalf that scorns your services. |
| Let her alone: speak not of Helena; |
| Take not her part; for if thou dost intend |
| Never so little show of love to her, |
| Thou shalt aby it. |
| LYSANDER |
| Now she holds me not; |
| Now follow, if thou dar'st, to try whose right, |
| Of thine or mine, is most in Helena. |
| DEMETRIUS |
| Follow! nay, I'll go with thee, cheek by jole. |
| [Exeunt LYSANDER and DEMETRIUS.] |
| HERMIA |
| You, mistress, all this coil is 'long of you: |
| Nay, go not back. |
| HELENA |
| I will not trust you, I; |
| Nor longer stay in your curst company. |
| Your hands than mine are quicker for a fray; |
| My legs are longer though, to run away. |
| [Exit.] |
| HERMIA |
| I am amaz'd, and know not what to say. |
| [Exit, pursuing HELENA.] |
| OBERON |
| This is thy negligence: still thou mistak'st, |
| Or else commit'st thy knaveries willfully. |
| PUCK |
| Believe me, king of shadows, I mistook. |
| Did not you tell me I should know the man |
| By the Athenian garments he had on? |
| And so far blameless proves my enterprise |
| That I have 'nointed an Athenian's eyes: |
| And so far am I glad it so did sort, |
| As this their jangling I esteem a sport. |
| OBERON |
| Thou seest these lovers seek a place to fight; |
| Hie therefore, Robin, overcast the night; |
| The starry welkin cover thou anon |
| With drooping fog, as black as Acheron, |
| And lead these testy rivals so astray |
| As one come not within another's way. |
| Like to Lysander sometime frame thy tongue, |
| Then stir Demetrius up with bitter wrong; |
| And sometime rail thou like Demetrius; |
| And from each other look thou lead them thus, |
| Till o'er their brows death-counterfeiting sleep |
| With leaden legs and batty wings doth creep: |
| Then crush this herb into Lysander's eye; |
| Whose liquor hath this virtuous property, |
| To take from thence all error with his might |
| And make his eyeballs roll with wonted sight. |
| When they next wake, all this derision |
| Shall seem a dream and fruitless vision; |
| And back to Athens shall the lovers wend |
| With league whose date till death shall never end. |
| Whiles I in this affair do thee employ, |
| I'll to my queen, and beg her Indian boy; |
| And then I will her charmed eye release |
| From monster's view, and all things shall be peace. |
| PUCK |
| My fairy lord, this must be done with haste, |
| For night's swift dragons cut the clouds full fast; |
| And yonder shines Aurora's harbinger, |
| At whose approach ghosts, wandering here and there, |
| Troop home to churchyards: damned spirits all, |
| That in cross-ways and floods have burial, |
| Already to their wormy beds are gone; |
| For fear lest day should look their shames upon |
| They wilfully exile themselves from light, |
| And must for aye consort with black-brow'd night. |
| OBERON |
| But we are spirits of another sort: |
| I with the morning's love have oft made sport; |
| And, like a forester, the groves may tread |
| Even till the eastern gate, all fiery-red, |
| Opening on Neptune with fair blessed beams, |
| Turns into yellow gold his salt-green streams. |
| But, notwithstanding, haste; make no delay: |
| We may effect this business yet ere day. |
| [Exit OBERON.] |
| PUCK |
| Up and down, up and down; |
| I will lead them up and down: |
| I am fear'd in field and town. |
| Goblin, lead them up and down. |
| Here comes one. |
| [Enter LYSANDER.] |
| LYSANDER |
| Where art thou, proud Demetrius? speak thou now. |
| PUCK |
| Here, villain; d drawn and ready. Where art thou? |
| LYSANDER |
| I will be with thee straight. |
| PUCK |
| Follow me, then, |
| To plainer ground. |
| [Exit LYSANDER as following the voice.] |
| [Enter DEMETRIUS.] |
| DEMETRIUS |
| Lysander! speak again. |
| Thou runaway, thou coward, art thou fled? |
| Speak. In some bush? where dost thou hide thy head? |
| PUCK |
| Thou coward, art thou bragging to the stars, |
| Telling the bushes that thou look'st for wars, |
| And wilt not come? Come, recreant; come, thou child; |
| I'll whip thee with a rod: he is defiled |
| That draws a sword on thee. |
| DEMETRIUS |
| Yea, art thou there? |
| PUCK |
| Follow my voice; we'll try no manhood here. |
| [Exeunt.] |
| [Re-enter LYSANDER.] |
| LYSANDER |
| He goes before me, and still dares me on; |
| When I come where he calls, then he is gone. |
| The villain is much lighter heeled than I: |
| I follow'd fast, but faster he did fly; |
| That fallen am I in dark uneven way, |
| And here will rest me. Come, thou gentle day! |
| [Lies down.] |
| For if but once thou show me thy grey light, |
| I'll find Demetrius, and revenge this spite. |
| [Sleeps.] |
| [Re-enter PUCK and DEMETRIUS.] |
| PUCK |
| Ho, ho, ho, ho! Coward, why com'st thou not? |
| DEMETRIUS |
| Abide me, if thou dar'st; for well I wot |
| Thou runn'st before me, shifting every place; |
| And dar'st not stand, nor look me in the face. |
| Where art thou? |
| PUCK |
| Come hither; I am here. |
| DEMETRIUS |
| Nay, then, thou mock'st me. |
| Thou shalt buy this dear, |
| If ever I thy face by daylight see: |
| Now, go thy way. Faintness constraineth me |
| To measure out my length on this cold bed.— |
| By day's approach look to be visited. |
| [Lies down and sleeps.] |
| [Enter HELENA.] |
| HELENA |
| O weary night, O long and tedious night, |
| Abate thy hours! Shine comforts from the east, |
| That I may back to Athens by daylight, |
| From these that my poor company detest:— |
| And sleep, that sometimes shuts up sorrow's eye, |
| Steal me awhile from mine own company. |
| [Sleeps.] |
| PUCK |
| Yet but three? Come one more; |
| Two of both kinds makes up four. |
| Here she comes, curst and sad:— |
| Cupid is a knavish lad, |
| Thus to make poor females mad. |
| [Enter HERMIA.] |
| HERMIA |
| Never so weary, never so in woe, |
| Bedabbled with the dew, and torn with briers; |
| I can no further crawl, no further go; |
| My legs can keep no pace with my desires. |
| Here will I rest me till the break of day. |
| Heavens shield Lysander, if they mean a fray! |
| [Lies down.] |
| PUCK |
| On the ground |
| Sleep sound: |
| I'll apply |
| To your eye, |
| Gentle lover, remedy. |
| [Squeezing the juice on LYSANDER'S eye.] |
| When thou wak'st, |
| Thou tak'st |
| True delight |
| In the sight |
| Of thy former lady's eye: |
| And the country proverb known, |
| That every man should take his own, |
| In your waking shall be shown: |
| Jack shall have Jill; |
| Nought shall go ill; |
| The man shall have his mare again, and all shall be well. |
| [Exit PUCK.—DEMETRIUS, HELENA &c, sleep.] |
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