Miko: annotations

Robin's traditional laugh.

Robin (as Lysander) says he will whip Demetrius instead of sword fighting; it would be dishonorable (defil'd) to use a sword on someone who is a coward.

Jack and Jill were common generic names for a man and woman. This line might be a reference to a line from “The proverbs of John Heywood” (1546): “Come chat at home, all is well; Jacke shall have Gill.”

This interesting stage direction from the First Folio tells us quite a bit about the staging of the play. The “act” in this case refers not to what today we call an act (a major division of the play) but to the music that is played *between* those divisions of the play. Those intervals were often timed because that was when it was necessary to replace burnt out candles. In Elizabethan theater, music was more popular in indoor theaters, where the acoustics were better. That in turn implies that this play was performed at least sometimes in indoor theaters, and that the lovers remained on stage during the music.

Probably this exit applies to Demetrius and Robin.

The entrances and exits for the rest of the scene are confusing. It's not always clear who is supposed to be on stage and when. Modern editions sometimes add entrances and exits to clarify the staging. We've chosen to simply keep the stage directions as they are in the First Quarto and First Folio. Modern productions generally disregard these stage directions anyway, choosing instead to have the actors on and off stage as best suits their staging.

coward

therefore

more level

with sword drawn