Act 5, Scene 1: Athens. The palace of THESEUS

SCENE I. Athens. The palace of THESEUS.

    Enter THESEUS, HIPPOLYTA, PHILOSTRATE, Lords and Attendants

HIPPOLYTA

    'Tis strange my Theseus, that these
    lovers speak of.

THESEUS

    More strange than true: I never may believe
    These antique fables, nor these fairy toys.
    Lovers and madmen have such seething brains,
    Such shaping fantasies, that apprehend
    More than cool reason ever comprehends.
    The lunatic, the lover and the poet
    Are of imagination all compact:
    One sees more devils than vast hell can hold,
    That is, the madman: the lover, all as frantic,
    Sees Helen's beauty in a brow of Egypt:
    The poet's eye, in fine frenzy rolling,
    Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven;
    And as imagination bodies forth
    The forms of things unknown, the poet's pen
    Turns them to shapes and gives to airy nothing
    A local habitation and a name.
    Such tricks hath strong imagination,
    That if it would but apprehend some joy,
    It comprehends some bringer of that joy;
    Or in the night, imagining some fear,
    How easy is a bush supposed a bear!

HIPPOLYTA

    But all the story of the night told over,
    And all their minds transfigured so together,
    More witnesseth than fancy's images
    And grows to something of great constancy;
    But, howsoever, strange and admirable.

THESEUS

    Here come the lovers, full of joy and mirth.

    Enter LYSANDER, DEMETRIUS, HERMIA, and HELENA
    Joy, gentle friends! joy and fresh days of love
    Accompany your hearts!

LYSANDER

    More than to us
    Wait in your royal walks, your board, your bed!

THESEUS

    Come now; what masques, what dances shall we have,
    To wear away this long age of three hours
    Between our after-supper and bed-time?
    Where is our usual manager of mirth?
    What revels are in hand? Is there no play,
    To ease the anguish of a torturing hour?
    Call Philostrate.

PHILOSTRATE

    Here, mighty Theseus.

THESEUS

    Say, what abridgement have you for this evening?
    What masque? what music? How shall we beguile
    The lazy time, if not with some delight?

PHILOSTRATE

    There is a brief how many sports are ripe:
    Make choice of which your highness will see first.

    Giving a paper

THESEUS

    [Reads] 'The battle with the Centaurs, to be sung
    By an Athenian eunuch to the harp.'
    We'll none of that: that have I told my love,
    In glory of my kinsman Hercules.

    Reads
    'The riot of the tipsy Bacchanals,
    Tearing the Thracian singer in their rage.'
    That is an old device; and it was play'd
    When I from Thebes came last a conqueror.

    Reads
    'The thrice three Muses mourning for the death
    Of Learning, late deceased in beggary.'
    That is some satire, keen and critical,
    Not sorting with a nuptial ceremony.

    Reads
    'A tedious brief scene of young Pyramus
    And his love Thisbe; very tragical mirth.'
    Merry and tragical! tedious and brief!
    That is, hot ice and wondrous strange snow.
    How shall we find the concord of this discord?

PHILOSTRATE

    A play there is, my lord, some ten words long,
    Which is as brief as I have known a play;
    But by ten words, my lord, it is too long,
    Which makes it tedious; for in all the play
    There is not one word apt, one player fitted:
    And tragical, my noble lord, it is;
    For Pyramus therein doth kill himself.
    Which, when I saw rehearsed, I must confess,
    Made mine eyes water; but more merry tears
    The passion of loud laughter never shed.

THESEUS

    What are they that do play it?

PHILOSTRATE

    Hard-handed men that work in Athens here,
    Which never labour'd in their minds till now,
    And now have toil'd their unbreathed memories
    With this same play, against your nuptial.

THESEUS

    And we will hear it.

PHILOSTRATE

    No, my noble lord;
    It is not for you: I have heard it over,
    And it is nothing, nothing in the world;
    Unless you can find sport in their intents,
    Extremely stretch'd and conn'd with cruel pain,
    To do you service.

THESEUS

    I will hear that play;
    For never anything can be amiss,
    When simpleness and duty tender it.
    Go, bring them in: and take your places, ladies.

    Exit PHILOSTRATE

HIPPOLYTA

    I love not to see wretchedness o'er charged
    And duty in his service perishing.

THESEUS

    Why, gentle sweet, you shall see no such thing.

HIPPOLYTA

    He says they can do nothing in this kind.

THESEUS

    The kinder we, to give them thanks for nothing.
    Our sport shall be to take what they mistake:
    And what poor duty cannot do, noble respect
    Takes it in might, not merit.
    Where I have come, great clerks have purposed
    To greet me with premeditated welcomes;
    Where I have seen them shiver and look pale,
    Make periods in the midst of sentences,
    Throttle their practised accent in their fears
    And in conclusion dumbly have broke off,
    Not paying me a welcome. Trust me, sweet,
    Out of this silence yet I pick'd a welcome;
    And in the modesty of fearful duty
    I read as much as from the rattling tongue
    Of saucy and audacious eloquence.
    Love, therefore, and tongue-tied simplicity
    In least speak most, to my capacity.

    Re-enter PHILOSTRATE

PHILOSTRATE

    So please your grace, the Prologue is address'd.

THESEUS

    Let him approach.

    Flourish of trumpets

    Enter QUINCE for the Prologue

Prologue

    If we offend, it is with our good will.
    That you should think, we come not to offend,
    But with good will. To show our simple skill,
    That is the true beginning of our end.
    Consider then we come but in despite.
    We do not come as minding to contest you,
    Our true intent is. All for your delight
    We are not here. That you should here repent you,
    The actors are at hand and by their show
    You shall know all that you are like to know.

THESEUS

    This fellow doth not stand upon points.

LYSANDER

    He hath rid his prologue like a rough colt; he knows
    not the stop. A good moral, my lord: it is not
    enough to speak, but to speak true.

HIPPOLYTA

    Indeed he hath played on his prologue like a child
    on a recorder; a sound, but not in government.

THESEUS

    His speech, was like a tangled chain; nothing
    impaired, but all disordered. Who is next?

    Enter Pyramus and Thisbe, Wall, Moonshine, and Lion

Prologue

    Gentles, perchance you wonder at this show;
    But wonder on, till truth make all things plain.
    This man is Pyramus, if you would know;
    This beauteous lady Thisby is certain.
    This man, with lime and rough-cast, doth present
    Wall, that vile Wall which did these lovers sunder;
    And through Wall's chink, poor souls, they are content
    To whisper. At the which let no man wonder.
    This man, with lanthorn, dog, and bush of thorn,
    Presenteth Moonshine; for, if you will know,
    By moonshine did these lovers think no scorn
    To meet at Ninus' tomb, there, there to woo.
    This grisly beast, which Lion hight by name,
    The trusty Thisby, coming first by night,
    Did scare away, or rather did affright;
    And, as she fled, her mantle she did fall,
    Which Lion vile with bloody mouth did stain.
    Anon comes Pyramus, sweet youth and tall,
    And finds his trusty Thisby's mantle slain:
    Whereat, with blade, with bloody blameful blade,
    He bravely broach'd is boiling bloody breast;
    And Thisby, tarrying in mulberry shade,
    His dagger drew, and died. For all the rest,
    Let Lion, Moonshine, Wall, and lovers twain
    At large discourse, while here they do remain.

    Exeunt Prologue, Thisbe, Lion, and Moonshine

THESEUS

    I wonder if the lion be to speak.

DEMETRIUS

    No wonder, my lord: one lion may, when many asses do.

Wall

    In this same interlude it doth befall
    That I, one Snout by name, present a wall;
    And such a wall, as I would have you think,
    That had in it a crannied hole or chink,
    Through which the lovers, Pyramus and Thisby,
    Did whisper often very secretly.
    This loam, this rough-cast and this stone doth show
    That I am that same wall; the truth is so:
    And this the cranny is, right and sinister,
    Through which the fearful lovers are to whisper.

THESEUS

    Would you desire lime and hair to speak better?

DEMETRIUS

    It is the wittiest partition that ever I heard
    discourse, my lord.

    Enter Pyramus

THESEUS

    Pyramus draws near the wall: silence!

Pyramus

    O grim-look'd night! O night with hue so black!
    O night, which ever art when day is not!
    O night, O night! alack, alack, alack,
    I fear my Thisby's promise is forgot!
    And thou, O wall, O sweet, O lovely wall,
    That stand'st between her father's ground and mine!
    Thou wall, O wall, O sweet and lovely wall,
    Show me thy chink, to blink through with mine eyne!

    Wall holds up his fingers
    Thanks, courteous wall: Jove shield thee well for this!
    But what see I? No Thisby do I see.
    O wicked wall, through whom I see no bliss!
    Cursed be thy stones for thus deceiving me!

THESEUS

    The wall, methinks, being sensible, should curse again.

Pyramus

    No, in truth, sir, he should not. 'Deceiving me'
    is Thisby's cue: she is to enter now, and I am to
    spy her through the wall. You shall see, it will
    fall pat as I told you. Yonder she comes.

    Enter Thisbe

Thisbe

    O wall, full often hast thou heard my moans,
    For parting my fair Pyramus and me!
    My cherry lips have often kiss'd thy stones,
    Thy stones with lime and hair knit up in thee.

Pyramus

    I see a voice: now will I to the chink,
    To spy an I can hear my Thisby's face. Thisby!

Thisbe

    My love thou art, my love I think.

Pyramus

    Think what thou wilt, I am thy lover's grace;
    And, like Limander, am I trusty still.

Thisbe

    And I like Helen, till the Fates me kill.

Pyramus

    Not Shafalus to Procrus was so true.

Thisbe

    As Shafalus to Procrus, I to you.

Pyramus

    O kiss me through the hole of this vile wall!

Thisbe

    I kiss the wall's hole, not your lips at all.

Pyramus

    Wilt thou at Ninny's tomb meet me straightway?

Thisbe

    'Tide life, 'tide death, I come without delay.

    Exeunt Pyramus and Thisbe

Wall

    Thus have I, Wall, my part discharged so;
    And, being done, thus Wall away doth go.

    Exit

THESEUS

    Now is the mural down between the two neighbours.

DEMETRIUS

    No remedy, my lord, when walls are so wilful to hear
    without warning.

HIPPOLYTA

    This is the silliest stuff that ever I heard.

THESEUS

    The best in this kind are but shadows; and the worst
    are no worse, if imagination amend them.

HIPPOLYTA

    It must be your imagination then, and not theirs.

THESEUS

    If we imagine no worse of them than they of
    themselves, they may pass for excellent men. Here
    come two noble beasts in, a man and a lion.

    Enter Lion and Moonshine

Lion

    You, ladies, you, whose gentle hearts do fear
    The smallest monstrous mouse that creeps on floor,
    May now perchance both quake and tremble here,
    When lion rough in wildest rage doth roar.
    Then know that I, one Snug the joiner, am
    A lion-fell, nor else no lion's dam;
    For, if I should as lion come in strife
    Into this place, 'twere pity on my life.

THESEUS

    A very gentle beast, of a good conscience.

DEMETRIUS

    The very best at a beast, my lord, that e'er I saw.

LYSANDER

    This lion is a very fox for his valour.

THESEUS

    True; and a goose for his discretion.

DEMETRIUS

    Not so, my lord; for his valour cannot carry his
    discretion; and the fox carries the goose.

THESEUS

    His discretion, I am sure, cannot carry his valour;
    for the goose carries not the fox. It is well:
    leave it to his discretion, and let us listen to the moon.

Moonshine

    This lanthorn doth the horned moon present;--

DEMETRIUS

    He should have worn the horns on his head.

THESEUS

    He is no crescent, and his horns are
    invisible within the circumference.

Moonshine

    This lanthorn doth the horned moon present;
    Myself the man i' the moon do seem to be.

THESEUS

    This is the greatest error of all the rest: the man
    should be put into the lanthorn. How is it else the
    man i' the moon?

DEMETRIUS

    He dares not come there for the candle; for, you
    see, it is already in snuff.

HIPPOLYTA

    I am aweary of this moon: would he would change!

THESEUS

    It appears, by his small light of discretion, that
    he is in the wane; but yet, in courtesy, in all
    reason, we must stay the time.

LYSANDER

    Proceed, Moon.

Moonshine

    All that I have to say, is, to tell you that the
    lanthorn is the moon; I, the man in the moon; this
    thorn-bush, my thorn-bush; and this dog, my dog.

DEMETRIUS

    Why, all these should be in the lanthorn; for all
    these are in the moon. But, silence! here comes Thisbe.

    Enter Thisbe

Thisbe

    This is old Ninny's tomb. Where is my love?

Lion

    [Roaring] Oh--

    Thisbe runs off

DEMETRIUS

    Well roared, Lion.

THESEUS

    Well run, Thisbe.

HIPPOLYTA

    Well shone, Moon. Truly, the moon shines with a
    good grace.

    The Lion shakes Thisbe's mantle, and exit

THESEUS

    Well moused, Lion.

LYSANDER

    And so the lion vanished.

DEMETRIUS

    And then came Pyramus.

    Enter Pyramus

Pyramus

    Sweet Moon, I thank thee for thy sunny beams;
    I thank thee, Moon, for shining now so bright;
    For, by thy gracious, golden, glittering gleams,
    I trust to take of truest Thisby sight.
    But stay, O spite!
    But mark, poor knight,
    What dreadful dole is here!
    Eyes, do you see?
    How can it be?
    O dainty duck! O dear!
    Thy mantle good,
    What, stain'd with blood!
    Approach, ye Furies fell!
    O Fates, come, come,
    Cut thread and thrum;
    Quail, crush, conclude, and quell!

THESEUS

    This passion, and the death of a dear friend, would
    go near to make a man look sad.

HIPPOLYTA

    Beshrew my heart, but I pity the man.

Pyramus

    O wherefore, Nature, didst thou lions frame?
    Since lion vile hath here deflower'd my dear:
    Which is--no, no--which was the fairest dame
    That lived, that loved, that liked, that look'd
    with cheer.
    Come, tears, confound;
    Out, sword, and wound
    The pap of Pyramus;
    Ay, that left pap,
    Where heart doth hop:

    Stabs himself
    Thus die I, thus, thus, thus.
    Now am I dead,
    Now am I fled;
    My soul is in the sky:
    Tongue, lose thy light;
    Moon take thy flight:

    Exit Moonshine
    Now die, die, die, die, die.

    Dies

DEMETRIUS

    No die, but an ace, for him; for he is but one.

LYSANDER

    Less than an ace, man; for he is dead; he is nothing.

THESEUS

    With the help of a surgeon he might yet recover, and
    prove an ass.

HIPPOLYTA

    How chance Moonshine is gone before Thisbe comes
    back and finds her lover?

THESEUS

    She will find him by starlight. Here she comes; and
    her passion ends the play.

    Re-enter Thisbe

HIPPOLYTA

    Methinks she should not use a long one for such a
    Pyramus: I hope she will be brief.

DEMETRIUS

    A mote will turn the balance, which Pyramus, which
    Thisbe, is the better; he for a man, God warrant us;
    she for a woman, God bless us.

LYSANDER

    She hath spied him already with those sweet eyes.

DEMETRIUS

    And thus she means, videlicet:--

Thisbe

    Asleep, my love?
    What, dead, my dove?
    O Pyramus, arise!
    Speak, speak. Quite dumb?
    Dead, dead? A tomb
    Must cover thy sweet eyes.
    These My lips,
    This cherry nose,
    These yellow cowslip cheeks,
    Are gone, are gone:
    Lovers, make moan:
    His eyes were green as leeks.
    O Sisters Three,
    Come, come to me,
    With hands as pale as milk;
    Lay them in gore,
    Since you have shore
    With shears his thread of silk.
    Tongue, not a word:
    Come, trusty sword;
    Come, blade, my breast imbrue:

    Stabs herself
    And, farewell, friends;
    Thus Thisby ends:
    Adieu, adieu, adieu.

    Dies

THESEUS

    Moonshine and Lion are left to bury the dead.

DEMETRIUS

    Ay, and Wall too.

BOTTOM

    [Starting up] No assure you; the wall is down that
    parted their fathers. Will it please you to see the
    epilogue, or to hear a Bergomask dance between two
    of our company?

THESEUS

    No epilogue, I pray you; for your play needs no
    excuse. Never excuse; for when the players are all
    dead, there needs none to be blamed. Marry, if he
    that writ it had played Pyramus and hanged himself
    in Thisbe's garter, it would have been a fine
    tragedy: and so it is, truly; and very notably
    discharged. But come, your Bergomask: let your
    epilogue alone.

    A dance
    The iron tongue of midnight hath told twelve:
    Lovers, to bed; 'tis almost fairy time.
    I fear we shall out-sleep the coming morn
    As much as we this night have overwatch'd.
    This palpable-gross play hath well beguiled
    The heavy gait of night. Sweet friends, to bed.
    A fortnight hold we this solemnity,
    In nightly revels and new jollity.

    Exeunt

    Enter PUCK

PUCK

    Now the hungry lion roars,
    And the wolf behowls the moon;
    Whilst the heavy ploughman snores,
    All with weary task fordone.
    Now the wasted brands do glow,
    Whilst the screech-owl, screeching loud,
    Puts the wretch that lies in woe
    In remembrance of a shroud.
    Now it is the time of night
    That the graves all gaping wide,
    Every one lets forth his sprite,
    In the church-way paths to glide:
    And we fairies, that do run
    By the triple Hecate's team,
    From the presence of the sun,
    Following darkness like a dream,
    Now are frolic: not a mouse
    Shall disturb this hallow'd house:
    I am sent with broom before,
    To sweep the dust behind the door.

    Enter OBERON and TITANIA with their train

OBERON

    Through the house give gathering light,
    By the dead and drowsy fire:
    Every elf and fairy sprite
    Hop as light as bird from brier;
    And this ditty, after me,
    Sing, and dance it trippingly.

TITANIA

    First, rehearse your song by rote
    To each word a warbling note:
    Hand in hand, with fairy grace,
    Will we sing, and bless this place.

    Song and dance

OBERON

    Now, until the break of day,
    Through this house each fairy stray.
    To the best bride-bed will we,
    Which by us shall blessed be;
    And the issue there create
    Ever shall be fortunate.
    So shall all the couples three
    Ever true in loving be;
    And the blots of Nature's hand
    Shall not in their issue stand;
    Never mole, hare lip, nor scar,
    Nor mark prodigious, such as are
    Despised in nativity,
    Shall upon their children be.
    With this field-dew consecrate,
    Every fairy take his gait;
    And each several chamber bless,
    Through this palace, with sweet peace;
    And the owner of it blest
    Ever shall in safety rest.
    Trip away; make no stay;
    Meet me all by break of day.

    Exeunt OBERON, TITANIA, and train

PUCK

    If we shadows have offended,
    Think but this, and all is mended,
    That you have but slumber'd here
    While these visions did appear.
    And this weak and idle theme,
    No more yielding but a dream,
    Gentles, do not reprehend:
    if you pardon, we will mend:
    And, as I am an honest Puck,
    If we have unearned luck
    Now to 'scape the serpent's tongue,
    We will make amends ere long;
    Else the Puck a liar call;
    So, good night unto you all.
    Give me your hands, if we be friends,
    And Robin shall restore amends.