Miko: annotations

The head. Some modern editions use the more modern spelling of “noll”.

Russet is a cheap, reddish, woolen cloth that was popular among the lower class. A chough is a small chattery bird, usually applied to the jackdaw. The jackdaw, however, has a black and gray head (pate), not reddish. Different explanations have been proposed to resolve this discrepancy. One is that russet could also mean gray; some fruits and vegetables with gray skins are described as russet. Another possibility is that Robin refers to some other bird. As always with Shakespeare, there is also the possibility that he and/or the compositor wasn't concerned with accuracy and so there is no resolution to this discrepancy.

“Swaggering” was apparently a new word around the time that Shakespeare wrote this play. George Chapman wrote in his 1598 dedication for “Achilles Shield”: “Swaggering is a new word amongst them, and round headed custom gives it priviledge with much imitation, being created as it were by a natural Prosopopeia without etimology or derivation…”. Shakespeare uses several variations of “swagger” in his plays, but none before 1600. Although it is often claimed that Shakespeare invented the word, there is no solid evidence to prove it.

The First Quarto spells this word “lātern”, presumably a variant of the Latin word “lāterna”. The First Folio spells it “lanthorne”. Modern editions spell it either “lantern” or “lanthorn”.

The First Quarto has both Oberon and Robin enter at the beginning of the scene. The First Folio has Robin enter after Oberon says “Which she must dote on in extremity”. The Folio's choice makes more sense because Robin enters and then Oberon says “Here comes my messenger”.

Neither the First Quarto nor the First Folio give the fairies names to indicate which is speaking. Only three fairies are indicated to speak: “1 Fai.”, “2 Fai.”, and “3 Fai.”. Modern editions usually name which fairy is speaking. They also separate the first fairy's line into two lines spoken by two fairies: “Hail, mortal!” and “Hail!”. Finally, the modern editions have exclamation points instead of periods. In this edition we have chosen to give the lines according to the original sources.

Pronounced “CORTisIZE” to keep the iambic pentameter and to rhyme with “eyes”.

Although Titania loves Bottom, she apparently still recognizes that he is very talkative.

There is disagreement over the meaning of this line, and the interpretations are directly opposite each other. Many modern editions state that “enforced” actually means violated, meaning that the flowers are forced not to be chaste, i.e. raped. Others state that it means the opposite, that their chastity is forced, i.e. they are not allowed to have sex. It should be noted that the Oxford English Dictionary makes no mention of “enforced” meaning “violated”.

Bottom might be referring to the parable of the mustard seed which is in the Gospel of Matthew. That parable is sometimes used as a call for patience. It may also simply refer to the mustard plant's patience in being eaten.