Lexicon

I.i, PAGE 1

"Now, fair Hippolyta,..." - Theseus

Both Theseus and Hippolyta are characters borrowed from mythology that Shakespeare was exposed to through their source materials in school, but also likely by Geoffery Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales. Midsummer is one of the only plays Shakespeare wrote that was not a direct adaptation, but even Midsummer borrows familiar characters so as to unburden the audience from backstory.

Though the subject of many mythological events wherein Theseus is painted heroically, Theseus' relationship with Hippolyta is undeniably one of violent subjugation. After conquering the Amazons and Hippolyta (the formidable Amazonian Queen), Theseus seized Hippolyta and carried her home to marry her (as a war prize). (Theseus was also well known as an abductor of women)

I.i, PAGE 1

"And then the moon, like to a silver bow

New-bent in heaven,..." - Hippolyta

"A bow bent is ready either to be strung or to let fly the arrow. In a context like the present, it is an archetype of fruitful union: the woman draws the man but follows him; together they project the child ('quiverful' for a family with many children)." (pg 6)

I.i, PAGE 1

"With cunning has thou filch'd..." - Egeus

"Filch (transitive verb): to steal secretly or casually."

I.i, PAGE 2

"I do entreat your grace to pardon me." - Hermia

"Entreat (transitive verb): to plead with especially in order to persuade."

I.i, PAGE 2

"Either to die the death or to abjure" - Theseus

Die the death: "To be put to death" (pg 9)

"Abjure (transitive verb): to renounce upon oath; to reject solemnly."

I.i, PAGE 2

"Ere I shall yield my Virgin Patent up." - Hermia

Virgin Patent: "Entitlement to virginity" (pg 10)

I.i, PAGE 2

"Or on Diana's altar to protest..." - Theseus

Diana: "Diana, in Roman religion, goddess of wild animals and the hunt, identified with the Greek goddess Artemis. Her name is akin to the Latin words dium (“sky”) and dius (“daylight”).

Like her Greek counterpart, she was also a goddess of domestic animals. As a fertility deity she was invoked by women to aid conception and delivery."

Diana was particularly noted for her virginal status, which is what Theseus is invoking here.

(Diana the origin for Wonder Woman)

Protest: "Vow" (pg 11)

I.i, PAGE 3

"...and, Lysander, yield

Thy crazed title..." - Demetrius

Crazed: "Flawed; a crazy structure" (pg 11)

I.i, PAGE 3

"I do estate unto Demetrius" - Egeus

Estate unto: "Settle upon" (pg 11)

I.i, PAGE 3

"I am, my lord, as well derived as he" - Lysander

As well derived: "Of as good descent, good family" (pg 11)

I.i, PAGE 3

"If not with vantage" - Lysander

Vantage: "The advantage on my side" (pg 11)

I.i, PAGE 3

"I have some private schooling for you both" - Theseus

Schooling: "Admonition" (pg 12)

I.i, PAGE 6

"When Phoebe doth behold..." - Lysander

Phoebe: "Diana (Phoebe) is regent of moonlit woods in Seneca, Hippolytus" (pg 17)

I.i, PAGE 6

"For ere Demetrius look'd on Hermia's eyne,..." - Helena

Eyne: "Eyes; archaic in Shakespeare's day, and rare except for rhyme" (pg 19)

I.i, PAGE 6

"To have his sight tither and back again" - Helena

Thither (adverb): "There", " being on the other and farther side: more remote"

I.ii, PAGE 7

"You were best to call them generally, ...according to the scrip." - Bottom

Generally: "Bottom's malapropism for 'severally'." (pg 20)

Scrip: "Script." (pg 20)

I.ii, PAGE 7

"...and so grow to a point." - Bottom

Grow to a point: "Draw to a conclusion." (pg 20)

I.ii, PAGE 7

"...most cruel death of Pyramus and Thisby" - Quince

Pyramus and Thisby: "Already known as a popular ballad" (pg 20)

I.ii, PAGE 7

"I could play Ercles rarely, or a part to tear a cat in, to make all split" - Bottom

Ercles: A shortened version of Hercules.

"...and Sidney, Arcadia, 1590, whose Dametas spoke 'with the voice of one that plaieth Hercules in a play, but never had his fancie in his head' (pg 21)

Tear a cat in: "rant and swagger" (pg 21)

All split: "Everything go to pieces" (pg 21)

I.ii, PAGE 8

"Phibbus' car" - Bottom

Phibbus' car: "The chariot of Phoebus Apollo" (pg 21)

I.ii, PAGE 8

"Ercles' vein" - Bottom

Ercles' vein: "a rousing, somewhat bombastic manner of public speaking or writing. In William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Act I, scene 2), “Ercles’ vein” is Bottom’s expression for the style of speech he considers appropriate to the character of “Ercles,” i.e., Hercules." (pg 22)

I.ii, PAGE 8

"Take pains; be perfect: adieu." - Bottom

Perfect: "Word perfect without book"

II.i, PAGE 9

"Fairwell, thou lob of spirits - Mustardseed

Lob of: "Country lout among." (pg 27)

II.i, PAGE 9

"...all our elves come here anon." - Mustardseed

Anon (adverb): "Soon, presently." (pg 27)

II.i, PAGE 9

"But they do square." - Puck

Square: "Quarrel. To take up a hostile posture." (pg 28)

II.i, PAGE 10

"Either I mistake your shape and making..." - Mustardseed

Making: "Build." (pg 28)

II.i, PAGE 10

"Tarry, rash wanton" - Oberon

Wanton: "Merciless, inhuame, malicious."

II.i, PAGE 10

"Come from the farthest Steppe of India" - Titiana

Steppe of India: "Utmost limit of travel or exploration." (pg 30)

II.i, PAGE 10

"But that, forsooth, the bouncing Amazon" - Titiana

Forsooth: "Indeed, in truth - often used to imply contempt or doubt." (pg 31)

II.i, PAGE 10

"Your buskin'd mistress and your warrior love" - Titiana

Buskin'd: "In high hunting boots." (pg 31)

II.i, PAGE 11

"And never, since the middle summer's spring" - Titiana

Middle summer's spring: "The beginning of midsummer." (pg 31)

II.i, PAGE 11

"By paved fountain or by rushy brook,

Or in the beached margent of the sea" - Titiana

Paved Fountain: "A clear fountain with a pebbly bottom." (pg 31)

Margent: Margin. "'Margin' is seldom found in Shakespeare's time, and never in him." (pg 31)

II.i, PAGE 11

"Their wonted liveries, and the mazed world" - Titiana

Wonted: "Accustomed." (pg 35)

Mazed: Margin. "Bewildered, by terror." (pg 35)

II.i, PAGE 11

"Their wonted liveries, and the mazed world" - Titiana

Wonted: "Accustomed." (pg 35)

Mazed: Margin. "Bewildered, by terror." (pg 35)

II.i, PAGE 11

"And this same progeny of evils..." - Titiana

Progeny (noun): "Descendant, outcome, product."

II.i, PAGE 11

"His mother was a votaress of my order:..." - Titiana

Votaress/Votress: "Vowed woman member" (pg 35)

II.i, PAGE 12

"Since once I sat upon a promontory,..." - Oberon

Promontory: "A high point of land or rock projecting into a body of water"

II.i, PAGE 12

"At a fair vestal throned..." - Oberon

Vestal: "Vowed to virginity, like the Vestal Virgins, Roman priestesses of Vesta." (pg 28)

II.i, PAGE 13

"Ere the leviathan can swim a league" - Oberon

Leviathan: "A sea monster defeated by Yahweh in various scriptural accounts."

II.i, PAGE 13

"I'll put a girdle round the earth in forty minutes" - Oberon

"Among Whitney's Emblems, 1586, one on Drake's circumnavigation depicts the globe encircled by a girdle, of which one end is fastened to the prow of the Golden Hind, the other held in the hand of God."

II.i, PAGE 13

"You draw me, you hard-hearted adamant." - Helena

Adamant: "Loadstone (magnet); metal of supreme hardness." (pg 39)

II.i, PAGE 14

"The dove pursues the griffin; the mild hind..." - Helena

Griffin: "A fabulous beast, the body upward as an Eagle, and beneath as a lion." (pg 41)

Hind: "Female deer: especially, doe of the red deer." (pg 41)

II.i, PAGE 14

"Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows..." - Oberon

Oxlips: "It unites features of cowslip and primrose"

II.ii, PAGE 15

"Come now, a roundel and a fairy song;..." - Titiana

Roundel: "Round dance" (pg 43)

II.ii, PAGE 15

"Some to kill cankers..." - Titiana

Cankers: "Canker-worms: caterpillars or other grubs" (pg 43)

II.ii, PAGE 15

"Some war with reremice for their leather wings" - Titiana

Reremice (noun, plural): "Bat (archaic)"

II.ii, PAGE 15

"One aloof stand sentinel" - Peaseblossom

"One has seen the sentinel kidnapped by attendants upon Oberon. This is sometimes noted as stage-practice, and hazards the suggestion that in Elizabethan performance perhaps he was stationed 'above'." (pg 45)

II.ii, PAGE 16

"Churl, upon thy eyes..." - Puck

Churl (noun): "a rude ill-bred person; a stingy morose person"

II.ii, PAGE 17

"But fair you well: perforce I must confess..." - Helena

Perforce (adverb): "by force of circumstances or of necessity"

II.ii, PAGE 18

"For as a surfeit of the sweetest things..." - Helena

Surfeit (noun): "an overabundant supply : excess; an intemperate or immoderate indulgence in something (such as food or drink); disgust caused by excess"

III.i, PAGE 18

"Pat, pat; and here's a marvailes" - Quince

Pat (noun): "On the dot" (pg 52)

Marvailes: Marvelous.

III.i, PAGE 18

"This hawthorne-brake our tiring-house" - Quince

Hawthorne-break (noun): "'A construction painted to look like a clump of trees'" (pg 52)

Tiring-house: "Attiring house; green room." (pg 52)

III.i, PAGE 18

"What sayest thou, bully Bottom?" - Quince

Bully: "A prefix of hearty appreciation." (pg 52)

III.i, PAGE 19

"Byrlakin, a parlous fear" - Quince

Byrlakin (interjection; obsolete): "A mild oath."