What Does O Mischief Art Thou Swift to Enter in the Thoughts of Desperate Men

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Romeo and Juliet: Act v, Scene 1

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  Enter ROMEO.

ROMEO

one. flattering: favorable [but possibly deceptive].
ii. presage: foretell, predict.
three. My bosom'southward lord: i.eastward., Love. his throne: i.eastward., my heart.

  1If I may trust the flattering truth of slumber,
  2My dreams presage some joyful news at hand:
  3My bosom's lord sits lightly in his throne;
  4And all this day an unaccustom'd spirit
  5Lifts me to a higher place the ground with cheerful thoughts.
  6I dreamt my lady came and establish me dead—

7. Strange dream, that gives a dead man leave to remember!: i.eastward., what a foreign dream, that gives a dead man permission to think about what is happening!

  7Strange dream, that gives a dead human exit to recall!—
  eightAnd breathed such life with kisses in my lips,
  ixThat I revived, and was an emperor.
 10Ah me! how sweetness is beloved itself possess'd,

xi. but: merely. dearest's shadows: i.east., dreams of love.

 11When merely love'southward shadows are so rich in joy!

booted: This part of the stage management comes from the earliest edition of Romeo and Juliet, known to scholars as "Q1." It seems to indicate that Balthasar has just dismounted from his horse, and is in a great hurry. .

Enter Romeo'due south man, [BALTHASAR, booted].

 12News from Verona!—How at present, Balthasar!
 13Dost chiliad non bring me letters from the friar?
 xivHow doth my lady? Is my father well?
 15How fares my Juliet? that I ask over again;
 xviFor nil tin be ill, if she be well.

BALTHASAR

17. she is well: This statement reflects the Christian thought that a person who dies innocent—complimentary of sin—"is well," because she is destined for heaven.

 17Then she is well, and nothing can be ill:
 xviiiHer torso sleeps in Capel'due south monument,
 19And her immortal function with angels lives.

xx. kindred'due south vault: funeral vault of her kinsmen [the Capulets]. 21. presently: immediately. took post: hired mail service-horses; i.due east., hurried as fast as I could.
23. yous did get out it for my office: i.e., you told me that it was my duty [to bring all news as before long as possible].

 twentyI saw her laid low in her kindred's vault,
 21And presently took post to tell information technology y'all:
 22O, pardon me for bringing these ill news,
 23Since you lot did get out information technology for my function, sir.

ROMEO
 24Is information technology notwithstanding? and then I defy you, stars!

25. Chiliad know'st my lodging: yous know where I'k staying.
26. mail service-horses: horses for hire.

 25Thou know'st my lodging: get me ink and newspaper,
 26And hire post-horses; I will hence tonight.

BALTHASAR
 27I do beseech you, sir, have patience:

28-29. import / Some misadventure: signify that you are about to practice something wild and dangerous.

 28Your looks are stake and wild, and do import
 29Some misadventure.

ROMEO
 29                               Tush, thou art deceived.
 30Leave me, and practice the thing I bid thee do.
 31Hast thou no messages to me from the friar?

BALTHASAR
 32No, my good lord.

ROMEO
 32                           No matter: become thee gone,
 33And rent those horses; I'll be with thee straight.

  Exit [BALTHASAR].

 34Well, Juliet, I will lie with thee this night.
 35Allow's see for means: O mischief, g art swift
 36To enter in the thoughts of desperate men!

37. apothecary: druggist.
38. late I noted: recently I noticed.
39. weeds: clothes. overwhelming brows: beetle brows.
xl. Culling of simples: sorting through medicinal herbs.

 37I practice remember an apothecary,—
 38And hereabouts he dwells,—which belatedly I noted
 39In tatter'd weeds, with overwhelming brows,
 40Culling of simples; meager were his looks,
 41Precipitous misery had worn him to the bones;

42. needy: scanty.

 42And in his needy shop a tortoise hung,
 43An alligator stuff'd, and other skins
 44Of ill-shaped fishes; and about his shelves

45. measly account: paltry array.
46. Green earthen pots: unfired dirt pots [would be very cheap and frail]. 47.packthread: cord used to tie upwardly packages. cakes of roses: rose petals pressed into cake form, used in making perfume.  48.a show: a display.

 45A measly account of empty boxes,
 46Green earthen pots, bladders and musty seeds,
 47Remnants of packthread and old cakes of roses,
 48Were thinly scatter'd, to brand up a show.
 49Noting this penury, to myself I said

50. An if: if.
51. is present expiry: is punishable by immediate execution.
52.caitiff: miserable.

 50"An if a man did need a poisonous substance now,
 51Whose sale is nowadays expiry in Mantua,
 52Hither lives a caitiff wretch would sell it him."
 53O, this same thought did merely forerun my need;
 54And this same needy human must sell information technology me.

55. this should be the business firm: On Shakespeare's scenery-free stage, a character simply has to say he is somewhere, and there he is.  56.Existence holiday: In that location is no mention anywhere else in the play of this day being a holiday; I think Shakespeare just needs an excuse to have Romeo call the Apothecary out to him.

 55As I remember, this should be the house.
 56Being holiday, the beggar'due south shop is shut.
 57What, ho! apothecary!

 [Enter APOTHECARY.]

Apothecary
 57                                Who calls so loud?

ROMEO
 58Come up hither, man. I run into that yard art poor:

59. ducats: gilded coins.

 59Hold, there is forty ducats. [Offers gold.] Let me take

60.A dram: a picayune chip. presently-speeding gear: quick-working stuff.

 threescoreA dram of poison, such soon-speeding gear
 61As will disperse itself through all the veins
 62That the life-weary taker may fall expressionless
 63And that the trunk may exist discharged of breath

64. hasty powder: gunpowder.

 64As violently as hasty powder fired

65. womb: belly.

 65Doth hurry from the fatal cannon'southward womb.

Apothecary

66. mortal: deadly.

 66Such mortal drugs I have; just Mantua's law

67. any he: whatsoever human. utters: issues, sells.

 67Is decease to any he that utters them.

ROMEO
 68Fine art thou and so bare and full of wretchedness,
 69And fear'st to dice? Famine is in thy cheeks,

70. Need  . . .  eyes: i.e., in your optics can be seen the starved expect of need and deprivation. 71. Contempt  . . .  back: i.eastward., you are weighed downwards by your beggary and the antipathy (of others) that comes with it.

 70Need and oppression starveth in thine eyes,
 71Contempt and beggary hangs upon thy back;
 72The globe is not thy friend nor the globe'due south law;
 73The world affords no law to make thee rich;

74. it: i.e., the constabulary.

 74Then exist not poor, but break it, and take this.

The Apothecary by Sir John Gilbert.

Apothecary
 75My poverty, but non my will, consents.

ROMEO
 76I pay thy poverty, and not thy will.

Apothecary
 77Put this in any liquid thing you volition,
 78And drink it off; and, if y'all had the strength
 79Of twenty men, it would dispatch yous straight.

ROMEO
 80There is thy gold, worse poison to men's souls,
 81Doing more murders in this loathsome world,
 82Than these poor compounds that thou mayst not sell.
 83I sell thee poison; one thousand hast sold me none.

84. get thyself in mankind: gain weight, go healthy.

 84Adieu: purchase nutrient, and get thyself in flesh.

 [Exit Apothecary.]

85. cordial: healing medicine, specially a restorative for the heart.

 85Come up, cordial and not poison, get with me
 86To Juliet's grave; for there must I employ thee.

  Leave.

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Source: https://www.shakespeare-navigators.com/romeo/T51.html

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