Miko: annotations

There is much speculation about the meaning of this phrase. The most common suggestion is that it is an allusion to archery. It is generally agreed that Bottom means that everyone should show up for rehearsal or the play will fail.

Bottom means his beard would be yellow, the color of a French Crown coin, which was gold. Quince, however, uses the term “French crown” in its derogatory meaning of someone who is bald because of syphilis.

Elizabethan men often dyed their beards. It was also common to wear false beards in theatrical performances.

“I will roar for you”

“as if it were”

It is generally assumed that Bottom chose the wrong word and meant “moderate” or some other word to indicate “tone down”.

It is often assumed that Bottom is mispronouncing “Thisbe”. However, “thisne” also means “in this way”. So it may be that Bottom is correctly using the word to indicate that the speech should be performed “in this way”. The Oxford English Dictionary gives this speech as the only example of “thisne” as a variant of “thissen”.

The chariot of Phoebus, the sun god, also known as Apollo. The next line follows up with saying that the chariot (i.e. the sun) will “shine from far”.

As used here, “split” was a sailing term for the ship wrecking. Bottom uses the phrase “make all split” in the more general sense of a violent action.

ranting and raving