Speech
Arden 3 | 2002

PRINCE
I know you all, and will awhile uphold  [185]
The unyoked humour of your idleness.
Yet herein will I imitate the sun,
Who doth permit the base contagious clouds
To smother up his beauty from the world,
That, when he please again to be himself,  [190]
Being wanted, he may be more wondered at
By breaking through the foul and ugly mists
Of vapours that did seem to strangle him.
If all the year were playing holidays,
To sport would be as tedious as to work;   [195]
But when they seldom come, they wished-for come,
And nothing pleaseth but rare accidents.
So when this loose behaviour I throw off
And pay the debt I never promised,
By how much better than my word I am,  [200]
By so much shall I falsify men’s hopes;
And, like bright metal on a sullen ground,
My reformation, glittering o’er my fault,
Shall show more goodly and attract more eyes
Than that which hath no foil .to set it off.  [205]
I’ll so offend to make offence a skill,
Redeeming time when men think least I will.

(Exit)

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Words and Pronunciation +
Arden 3 | 2002

Words

uphold: put up with (and also support) (Kastan)

I know you all: In 2H4, the now King Henry V rejects Falstaff: ‘I know thee not, old man’ (5.5.47). (Kastan)

unyoked:  (SW)

humour: (SW)

unyoked humour: unrestrained behaviour (Kastan)

idleness:

herein: 

imitate: n)

the sun: traditional symbol of royalty (and in contrast with Falstaff’s talk about the moon at 12–28) (Kastan)

base: spe)

contagious: infectious, noxious (reflecting a belief that clouds and fogs carried diseases; cf. MND 2.1.90: ‘contagious fogs’ ) (Kastan)

smother: effe

wanted: lacked, missed (Kastan)

foul:  a

ugly: ‘Be go

mists: ha

vapours: a

strangle: a is)

playing: bla

sport: prW)

tedious: hono)

wished-for: ass

rare accidents: unusual occurrences (Kastan)

loose: ‘by)

debt: The language of debt and repayment runs throughout the play; see pp. 64–9. (Kastan)

falsify men’s hopes: prove people’s expectations false (Kastan)

sullen: [

ground: he)

sullen ground: dull background (Kastan)

reformation: a.

goodly:  con (SW)

foil: hcontrast (like the plain background upon which a jeweller might place a jewel to ‘set off’ the brilliance of the stone) (Kastan); soile Q4-F (Kastan)

set it off: show it to best advantage (Kastan)

offend: W)

offence: Jeis)

skill: s7)

I’ll so offend to make offence a skill: I will use my misbehaviour for my own advantage (Kastan)

redeeming: to c

redeeming time: making up for wasted time; a Scottish reader about 1630 noted in a copy of the 1623 Folio that this was: ‘The princes resolution to giue a time to debauch and then convert to vertue’ (Yamada, 112). Hal’s phrase certainly takes something from Ephesians, 5.16: ‘redeeming the time, because the days are evil’ (as Jorgensen has fully discussed, 52–69), but, while contemporary audiences might well have understood the phrase in its Pauline sense of taking full advantage of the time allowed us on earth to ensure our salvation, Hal’s interest is more secular, concerned rather with renewing his sullied reputation than his tarnished soul. ‘The time will come’, he promises, when Hotspur will be forced to ‘exchange / His glorious deeds for my indignities’ (3.2.144–6); and Henry acknowledges his son’s success: ‘Thou hast redeemed thy lost opinion’ (5.4.47). (Kastan)

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Pronunciation +

lines 185-207: the play’s only verse soliloquy, and one that sets the tone of all performances. Hal may be rationalizing his prodigal behaviour, as Johnson thought: ‘a great mind offering excuses to itself’ (Johnson, 4.123); or revealing his ‘political calculation’ in using his tavern life is ‘an instrument of policy’, as in Traversi, 58; or facing an uncomfortable truth about his life, as at the Old Vic in 1955, when Robert Hardy’s Hal ‘dropped back into a chair and with a sigh of sadness and regret admitted to himself, “I know you all …” ’ (Wood & Clark, 159). (Kastan)

promised: (line 199) pro-mis-ed; 3 syllables (Kastan)

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Translation
No Fear Shakespeare

PRINCE
I understand all of you. For now, I’ll put on the rowdy behavior of your good-for-nothing ways. But in this way, I’ll be like the sun, who allows the vulgar, corrupting clouds to hide his beauty from the world. Then, when the sun wants to be himself again, he breaks through the foul mists and vapors that seemed to be strangling him. And because people have missed him so much, they are that much more impressed when he finally appears. If every day were a vacation, playing would grow as tedious as working. But when it’s rare, it’s looked forward to. Nothing is as precious as the unexpected occurrence. So when I throw off this wild behavior and accept the responsibilities of being king—a destiny I didn’t choose but was born into—I’ll suddenly seem like a far better man. In this way, I’ll give everyone the wrong expectation of me. Like a bright metal on a dark background, my reformation will shine even more brilliantly when it’s set against my wicked past. I’ll be so wild, I’ll make wildness an art form, then redeem myself when the world least expects me to.

Assonance
Arden 3 | 2002

PRINCE
I know you all, and will awhile uphold  [185]
The unyoked humour of your idleness.
Yet herein will I imitate the sun,
Who doth permit the base contagious clouds
To smother up his beauty from the world,
That, when he please again to be himself,  [190]
Being wanted, he may be more wondered at
By breaking through the foul and ugly mists
Of vapours that did seem to strangle him.
If all the year were playing holidays,
To sport would be as tedious as to work;   [195]
But when they seldom come, they wished-for come,
And nothing pleaseth but rare accidents.
So when this loose behaviour I throw off
And pay the debt I never promised,
By how much better than my word I am,  [200]
By so much shall I falsify men’s hopes;
And, like bright metal on a sullen ground,
My reformation, glittering o’er my fault,
Shall show more goodly and attract more eyes
Than that which hath no foil .to set it off.  [205]
I’ll so offend to make offence a skill,
Redeeming time when men think least I will.

(Exit)

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Pronunciation +

shamest: (line 23) Q2–3; sham’st Q4, F; not in Q1 (Weis)

Jesu: (line 29) jeez-yoo or jee-zoo; jayz-yoo or jay-zoo

you: (line 29) The more formal pronoun is used consistently by Nurse when addressing Juliet, while the 13-year-old uses the familiar thou, thee, thy to her servant, in conformity with the etiquette of the day in which social class overrides age. (Weis)

marry: (line 62) mah-ree (UK); meh-ree (US) (OED)

trow: (line 62) tr-ah-oo (UK); tr-oh (US) (OED)

hie: (line 68) hah-ee

wanton: (line 70) want-en or want-in

Alliteration
Arden 3 | 2002

PRINCE
I know you all, and will awhile uphold  [185]
The unyoked humour of your idleness.
Yet herein will I imitate the sun,
Who doth permit the base contagious clouds
To smother up his beauty from the world,
That, when he please again to be himself,  [190]
Being wanted, he may be more wondered at
By breaking through the foul and ugly mists
Of vapours that did seem to strangle him.
If all the year were playing holidays,
To sport would be as tedious as to work;   [195]
But when they seldom come, they wished-for come,
And nothing pleaseth but rare accidents.
So when this loose behaviour I throw off
And pay the debt I never promised,
By how much better than my word I am,  [200]
By so much shall I falsify men’s hopes;
And, like bright metal on a sullen ground,
My reformation, glittering o’er my fault,
Shall show more goodly and attract more eyes
Than that which hath no foil .to set it off.  [205]
I’ll so offend to make offence a skill,
Redeeming time when men think least I will.

(Exit)

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Consonance
Arden 3 | 2002

PRINCE
I know you all, and will awhile uphold  [185]
The unyoked humour of your idleness.
Yet herein will I imitate the sun,
Who doth permit the base contagious clouds
To smother up his beauty from the world,
That, when he please again to be himself,  [190]
Being wanted, he may be more wondered at
By breaking through the foul and ugly mists
Of vapours that did seem to strangle him.
If all the year were playing holidays,
To sport would be as tedious as to work;   [195]
But when they seldom come, they wished-for come,
And nothing pleaseth but rare accidents.
So when this loose behaviour I throw off
And pay the debt I never promised,
By how much better than my word I am,  [200]
By so much shall I falsify men’s hopes;
And, like bright metal on a sullen ground,
My reformation, glittering o’er my fault,
Shall show more goodly and attract more eyes
Than that which hath no foil .to set it off.  [205]
I’ll so offend to make offence a skill,
Redeeming time when men think least I will.

(Exit)

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Thoughts
Arden 3 | 2002

PRINCE
1. I know you all, and will awhile uphold   [185]
The unyoked humour of your idleness.
2. Yet herein will I imitate the sun,
Who doth permit the base contagious clouds
To smother up his beauty from the world,
That, when he please again to be himself,  [190]
Being wanted, he may be more wondered at
By breaking through the foul and ugly mists
Of vapours that did seem to strangle him.
3. If all the year were playing holidays,
To sport would be as tedious as to work;  [195]
But when they seldom come, they wished-for come,
And nothing pleaseth but rare accidents.
4. So when this loose behaviour I throw off
And pay the debt I never promised,
By how much better than my word I am,  [200]
By so much shall I falsify men’s hopes;
4b. And, like bright metal on a sullen ground,
My reformation, glittering o’er my fault,
Shall show more goodly and attract more eyes
Than that which hath no foil .to set it off.  [205]
5. I’ll so offend to make offence a skill,
Redeeming time when men think least I will.

(Exit)

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Thought Count
Arden 3 | 2002

PRINCE HENRY

Long: 2 | 1
Medium: 3 | 5
Short: 0
Complex: 1(2)

End stopped: 5 | 6
Midline: 0

Period: 5 + ;
Exclamation: 0
Question: 0
Dash: 0

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Rhythm
Arden 3 | 2002

PRINCE
I know you all, and will awhile uphold  [185] (10R)
The unyoked humour of your idleness. (10R)
Yet herein will I imitate the sun, (10R)
Who doth permit the base contagious clouds (10R)
To smother up his beauty from the world, (10R)
That, when he please again to be himself,  [190] (10R)
Being wanted, he may be more wondered at (10R)
By breaking through the foul and ugly mists (10R)
Of vapours that did seem to strangle him. (10R)
If all the year were playing holidays, (10R)
To sport would be as tedious as to work;   [195] (10R)
But when they seldom come, they wished-for come, (10R)
And nothing pleaseth but rare accidents. (10)
So when this loose behaviour I throw off (10|10R)
And pay the debt I never promisèd, (10R)
By how much better than my word I am,  [200] (10R)
By so much shall I falsify men’s hopes; (10R)
And, like bright metal on a sullen ground, (10|10R)
My reformation, glittering o’er my fault, ((11|10R)
Shall show more goodly and attract more eyes (10R)
Than that which hath no foil .to set it off.  [205] (10R)
I’ll so offend to make offence a skill, (10R)
Redeeming time when men think least I will. (10R)

(Exit)

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Pacing
Arden 3 | 2002

PRINCE
I know you all, and will awhile uphold  [185]
The unyoked humour of your idleness.  pause?
Yet herein will I imitate the sun,
Who doth permit the base contagious clouds
To smother up his beauty from the world,
That, when he please again to be himself,  [190]
Being wanted, he may be more wondered at
By breaking through the foul and ugly mists
Of vapours that did seem to strangle him.  pause?
If all the year were playing holidays,
To sport would be as tedious as to work;   [195]
But when they seldom come, they wished-for come,
And nothing pleaseth but rare accidents.  pause?
So when this loose behaviour I throw off
And pay the debt I never promised,
By how much better than my word I am,  [200]
By so much shall I falsify men’s hopes;  pause?
And, like bright metal on a sullen ground,
My reformation, glittering o’er my fault,
Shall show more goodly and attract more eyes
Than that which hath no foil .to set it off.  [205] pause?
I’ll so offend to make offence a skill,
Redeeming time when men think least I will.

(Exit)

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Beats
Arden 3 | 2002

PRINCE

 

---

I know you all, and will awhile uphold  [185]
The unyoked humour of your idleness.

decision

---

Yet herein will I imitate the sun,
Who doth permit the base contagious clouds
To smother up his beauty from the world,
That, when he please again to be himself,  [190]
Being wanted, he may be more wondered at
By breaking through the foul and ugly mists
Of vapours that did seem to strangle him.
If all the year were playing holidays,
To sport would be as tedious as to work;   [195]
But when they seldom come, they wished-for come,
And nothing pleaseth but rare accidents.

 

---

So when this loose behaviour I throw off
And pay the debt I never promised,
By how much better than my word I am,  [200]
By so much shall I falsify men’s hopes;
And, like bright metal on a sullen ground,
My reformation, glittering o’er my fault,
Shall show more goodly and attract more eyes
Than that which hath no foil .to set it off.  [205]

discovery/decision

---

I’ll so offend to make offence a skill,
Redeeming time when men think least I will.

(Exit)

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Pronunciation +

shamest: (line 23) Q2–3; sham’st Q4, F; not in Q1 (Weis)

Jesu: (line 29) jeez-yoo or jee-zoo; jayz-yoo or jay-zoo

you: (line 29) The more formal pronoun is used consistently by Nurse when addressing Juliet, while the 13-year-old uses the familiar thou, thee, thy to her servant, in conformity with the etiquette of the day in which social class overrides age. (Weis)

marry: (line 62) mah-ree (UK); meh-ree (US) (OED)

trow: (line 62) tr-ah-oo (UK); tr-oh (US) (OED)

hie: (line 68) hah-ee

wanton: (line 70) want-en or want-in

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Rhetoric
Arden 3 | 2002

PRINCE
I know you all, and will awhile uphold  [185]
The unyoked humour of your idleness.
Yet herein will I imitate the sun,
Who doth permit the base contagious clouds
To smother up his beauty from the world,
That, when he please again to be himself,  [190]
Being wanted, he may be more wondered at
By breaking through the foul and ugly mists
Of vapours that did seem to strangle him.
If all the year were playing holidays,
To sport would be as tedious as to work;   [195]
But when they seldom come, they wished-for come,
And nothing pleaseth but rare accidents.
So when this loose behaviour I throw off
And pay the debt I never promised,
By how much better than my word I am,  [200]
By so much shall I falsify men’s hopes;
And, like bright metal on a sullen ground,
My reformation, glittering o’er my fault,
Shall show more goodly and attract more eyes
Than that which hath no foil .to set it off.  [205]
I’ll so offend to make offence a skill,
Redeeming time when men think least I will.

(Exit)

metaphor

unyoked humour implied metaphor: Hal sees them as livestock, as beings beneath him.

Yet herein will I imitate the sun begins a comparison of himself to the sun, something he will do later in Henry V, something that, according to Kastan, is a common metaphor or comparison for a king.

base contagious clouds are metaphors either for Falstaff and company, or Henry’s choice to conduct himself poorly, or perhaps his reputation.

foul and ugly mists of vapours is used similarly as a metaphor.

that did seem to strangle him – the choice of strangle here is perhaps how Hal is feeling, especially now that he’s been pulled into robbery; perhaps he feels he’s getting too close, or that Falstaff in particular is expecting favours from him…he may be in too deep.  Or it may be indicative of how he wants the world to receive his theatrics.

If all the year were playing holidays | To sport would be as tedious as to work… Hal moves on to compare his coming out to a holiday, something that will please people; perhaps he sees being a “good prince” as tedious work.

debt – his becoming a good prince or king is a debt never promised: a windfall, something he owes but does not, of his nature, want to pay, perhaps

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Scene
Arden 3 | 2002 | 149-163

1.2

Enter Prince of Wales and Sir John Falstaff.

FALSTAFF
Now, Hal, what time of day is it, lad?

PRINCE
Thou art so fat-witted with drinking of old sack,
and unbuttoning thee after supper, and sleeping upon
benches after noon, that thou hast forgotten to demand that truly
which thou wouldst truly know. What a devil                                  5
hast thou to do with the time of the day? Unless hours
were cups of sack, and minutes capons, and clocks the
tongues of bawds, and dials the signs of leaping-houses,
and the blessed sun himself a fair hot wench in flame– coloured taffeta,
I see no reason why thou shouldst be so                  10
superfluous to demand the time of the day.

FALSTAFF
Indeed you come near me now, Hal, for we
that take purses go by the moon and the seven stars,
and not by Phoebus, he, ‘that wand’ring knight so fair’.
15And I prithee, sweet wag, when thou art a king, as God
save thy grace – ‘majesty’ , I should say, for grace thou
wilt have none –
PRINCE
What, none?
FALSTAFF
No, by my troth, not so much as will serve to
20be prologue to an egg and butter.
PRINCE
Well, how then? Come roundly, roundly.
FALSTAFF
Marry then, sweet wag, when thou art king, let
not us that are squires of the night’s body be called
thieves of the day’s beauty. Let us be Diana’s foresters,
25gentlemen of the shade , minions of the moon, and let
men say we be men of good government, being
governed, as the sea is, by our noble and chaste mistress
the moon, under whose countenance we steal .

PRINCE
Thou sayst well, and it holds well too, for the
30fortune of us that are the moon’s men doth ebb and
flow like the sea, being governed, as the sea is, by the
moon. As for proof now: a purse of gold most
resolutely snatched on Monday night and most
dissolutely spent on Tuesday morning, got with
35swearing ‘Lay by!’ , and spent with crying ‘Bring in!’ ,
now in as low an ebb as the foot of the ladder, and by
and by in as high a flow as the ridge of the gallows.

FALSTAFF
By the Lord, thou sayst true, lad – and is not
my hostess of the tavern a most sweet wench?

PRINCE
40As the honey of Hybla , my old lad of the castle –
and is not a buff jerkin a most sweet robe of durance?

FALSTAFF
How now, how now, mad wag? What, in thy
quips and thy quiddities? What a plague have I to do
with a buff jerkin?

PRINCE
45Why, what a pox have I to do with my hostess of
the tavern?

FALSTAFF
Well, thou hast called her to a reckoning many
a time and oft.

PRINCE
Did I ever call for thee to pay thy part?

FALSTAFF
50No, I’ll give thee thy due; thou hast paid all
there.

PRINCE
Yea, and elsewhere, so far as my coin would
stretch, and where it would not I have used my credit.

FALSTAFF
Yea, and so used it that were it not here
55apparent that thou art heir apparent – but I prithee,
sweet wag, shall there be gallows standing in England
when thou art king? And resolution thus fubbed as it is
with the rusty curb of old Father Antic the law? Do not
thou, when thou art king, hang a thief.

PRINCE
60No, thou shalt.

FALSTAFF
Shall l? O, rare! By the Lord, I’ll be a brave
judge!

PRINCE
Thou judgest false already. I mean thou shalt
have the hanging of the thieves and so become a rare
65hangman.

FALSTAFF
Well, Hal, well, and in some sort it jumps with
my humour as well as waiting in the court, I can tell you.

PRINCE
For obtaining of suits?

FALSTAFF
Yea, for obtaining of suits, whereof the
70hangman hath no lean wardrobe. ’Sblood , I am as
melancholy as a gib cat or a lugged bear.

PRINCE
Or an old lion or a lover’s lute.

FALSTAFF
Yea, or the drone of a Lincolnshire bagpipe.

PRINCE
What sayst thou to a hare, or the melancholy of
75Moorditch?

FALSTAFF
Thou hast the most unsavoury similes and art
indeed the most comparative, rascalliest, sweet young
prince. But Hal, I prithee trouble me no more with
vanity. I would to God thou and I knew where a
80commodity of good names were to be bought. An old
lord of the Council rated me the other day in the street
about you, sir, but I marked him not; and yet he talked
very wisely, but I regarded him not; and yet he talked
wisely and in the street too.

PRINCE
85Thou didst well, for wisdom cries out in the
streets and no man regards it.

FALSTAFF
O, thou hast damnable iteration and art indeed
able to corrupt a saint. Thou hast done much harm
upon me, Hal; God forgive thee for it. Before I knew
90thee, Hal, I knew nothing, and now am I, if a man
should speak truly, little better than one of the wicked.
I must give over this life, and I will give it over. By the Lord, an I do not, I am a villain. I’ll be damned for
never a king’s son in Christendom.

PRINCE
95Where shall we take a purse tomorrow, Jack?

FALSTAFF
Zounds , where thou wilt, lad. I’ll make one; an
I do not, call me villain and baffle me.

PRINCE
I see a good amendment of life in thee, from
praying to purse-taking.

FALSTAFF
100Why, Hal, ’tis my vocation, Hal; ’tis no sin for
a man to labour in his vocation.
Enter Poins.
Poins! Now shall we know if Gadshill have set a match .
O, if men were to be saved by merit, what hole in hell
were hot enough for him? This is the most omnipotent
105villain that ever cried ‘Stand!’ to a true man.

PRINCE
Good morrow, Ned.

POINS
Good morrow, sweet Hal. — What says Monsieur Remorse? What says Sir John Sack and Sugar, Jack?
How agrees the devil and thee about thy soul, that thou
110soldest him on Good Friday last for a cup of madeira
and a cold capon’s leg?

PRINCE
Sir John stands to his word. The devil shall have
his bargain, for he was never yet a breaker of proverbs;
he will give the devil his due.

POINS
115[to Falstaff ]Then art thou damned for keeping
thy word with the devil.

PRINCE
Else he had been damned for cozening the devil.

POINS
But my lads, my lads, tomorrow morning by four
o’clock early, at Gad’s Hill, there are pilgrims going to
120Canterbury with rich offerings and traders riding to
London with fat purses. I have vizards for you all; you
have horses for yourselves. Gadshill lies tonight in
Rochester. I have bespoke supper tomorrow night in
Eastcheap. We may do it as secure as sleep. If you will
125go, I will stuff your purses full of crowns; if you will
not, tarry at home and be hanged.

FALSTAFF
Hear ye, Yedward, if I tarry at home and go
not, I’ll hang you for going.

POINS
You will, chops?

FALSTAFF
130Hal, wilt thou make one?

PRINCE
Who? I rob? I a thief? Not I, by my faith.

FALSTAFF
There’s neither honesty, manhood nor good
fellowship in thee, nor thou cam’st not of the blood royal, if thou darest not stand for ten shillings.

PRINCE
135Well then, once in my days l’ll be a madcap.

FALSTAFF
Why, that’s well said.

PRINCE
Well, come what will, I’ll tarry at home.

FALSTAFF
By the Lord, I’ll be a traitor then, when thou
art king.

PRINCE
140I care not.

POINS
Sir John, I prithee leave the Prince and me alone.
I will lay him down such reasons for this adventure that
he shall go.

FALSTAFF
Well, God give thee the spirit of persuasion
145and him the ears of profiting, that what thou speakest
may move and what he hears may be believed, that the
true prince may, for recreation sake, prove a false thief,
for the poor abuses of the time want countenance.
Farewell. You shall find me in Eastcheap.

PRINCE
150Farewell, the latter spring; farewell, All-hallown summer.
[Exit Falstaff. ]

POINS
Now, my good sweet honey lord, ride with us
tomorrow. I have a jest to execute that I cannot manage
alone. Falstaff, Peto, Bardoll and Gadshill shall rob
155those men that we have already waylaid – yourself and
I will not be there – and when they have the booty, if
you and I do not rob them, cut this head off from my
shoulders.

PRINCE
How shall we part with them in setting forth?

POINS
160Why, we will set forth before or after them and
appoint them a place of meeting, wherein it is at our
pleasure to fail. And then will they adventure upon the
exploit themselves, which they shall have no sooner
achieved but we’ll set upon them.

PRINCE
165Yea, but ’tis like that they will know us by our
horses, by our habits and by every other appointment to
be ourselves.

POINS
Tut, our horses they shall not see. I’ll tie them in
the wood. Our vizards we will change after we leave
170them, and, sirrah, I have cases of buckram for the
nonce, to immask our noted outward garments.

PRINCE
Yea, but I doubt they will be too hard for us.

POINS
Well, for two of them, I know them to be as true–
bred cowards as ever turned back, and for the third, if
175he fight longer than he sees reason, I’ll forswear arms.
The virtue of this jest will be the incomprehensible lies
that this same fat rogue will tell us when we meet at
supper: how thirty at least he fought with, what wards,
what blows, what extremities he endured; and in the
180reproof of this lives the jest.

PRINCE
Well, I’ll go with thee. Provide us all things
necessary and meet me tomorrow night in Eastcheap.
There I’ll sup. Farewell.

POINS
Farewell, my lord.
Exit Poins.

PRINCE
I know you all, and will awhile uphold                          185
The unyoked humour of your idleness.
Yet herein will I imitate the sun,
Who doth permit the base contagious clouds
To smother up his beauty from the world,
That, when he please again to be himself,                  190
Being wanted, he may be more wondered at
By breaking through the foul and ugly mists
Of vapours that did seem to strangle him.
If all the year were playing holidays,
To sport would be as tedious as to work;                      195
But when they seldom come, they wished-for come,
And nothing pleaseth but rare accidents.
So when this loose behaviour I throw off
And pay the debt I never promised,
By how much better than my word I am,                        200
By so much shall I falsify men’s hopes;
And, like bright metal on a sullen ground,
My reformation, glittering o’er my fault,
Shall show more goodly and attract more eyes
Than that which hath no foil .to set it off.                      205
I’ll so offend to make offence a skill,
Redeeming time when men think least I will.

Exit.

Pronunciation +

shamest: (line 23) Q2–3; sham’st Q4, F; not in Q1 (Weis)

Jesu: (line 29) jeez-yoo or jee-zoo; jayz-yoo or jay-zoo

you: (line 29) The more formal pronoun is used consistently by Nurse when addressing Juliet, while the 13-year-old uses the familiar thou, thee, thy to her servant, in conformity with the etiquette of the day in which social class overrides age. (Weis)

marry: (line 62) mah-ree (UK); meh-ree (US) (OED)

trow: (line 62) tr-ah-oo (UK); tr-oh (US) (OED)

hie: (line 68) hah-ee

wanton: (line 70) want-en or want-in

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