Becca Brummett - Benvolio's Speech to The Prince

Early Modern English Text Comparison

In this Early Modern English text comparison I examined three different editions of Benvolio’s speech to the Prince describing the fight between Mercutio, Tybalt, and Romeo at the end of Act 3, scene 1. The first edition I used was a 1622 quarto titled: The Most Excellent and Lamentable Tragedy, of Romeo and Juliet as it hath been sundry times publicly acted, by The King’s Majesties Servants at the Globe to be printed by William Standsby and sold by John Smithwick at his shop in Saint Dunstan’s churchyard in Fleet Street. The second edition I used for this comparison was the sixth edition of David Bevington’s Complete Work of Shakespeare printed in 2008.And finally, the third version of this speech I used in my analysis was the Wells and Taylor Complete Works of Shakespeare: Original-Spelling Edition printed in 1986.
              The biggest differences between the three editions were spelling and punctuation, with very rare added, changed, or lost words. However, once I modernized and standardized all the spellings the only significant difference was the addition, loss, or changing of punctuation. Although, one stand out variance was the use of either “agile”, “agent”, or “aged” arm when describing Romeo’s physical interference in the fight between Tybalt and Mercutio. While I ruled out “aged” as a possibility when discussing a teenager’s arm, the meaning of the phrase does change when examining the use of “agile” or the use of “agent” when recounting Romeo’s intervention.

Transcription from 1622 Quarto:

Tybalt here slain, whom Romeo’s hand did slay,
Romeo that spoke him fair, bid him bethink
How nice the quarrel was, and urged withal
Your high displeasure all this uttered.
With gentle breath, clam look, knees humbly bowed
Could not take truce with the unruly spleen
Of Tybalt deaf to peace, but that he tilts
With piercing steel at bold Mercutio’s breast,
Who all as hot, turns deadly point to point,
And with a Martial scorn, with one hand bears
Cold death aside, and with the other sends,
It back to Tybalt, whose dexterity
Retorts it, Romeo he cries aloud,
Hold friends, friends part, and swifter then his tongue,
His agile arm beats down their fatal points,
And twixt them rushes, underneath whose arm,
An envious thrust from Tybalt, hit the life
Of stout Mercutio, and then Tybalt fled,
But by and by comes back to Romeo,
Who had but newly entertained revenge,
And too’t they go like lightning, for ere I
Could draw to part them, stout Tybalt slain,
And as he fell, did Romeo turn and fly,
This is the truth, or let Benvolio die.

Bevington Edition:

Tybalt, here slain, whom Romeo’s hand did slay.
Romeo, that spoke him fair, bid him bethink
How nice the quarrel was, and urged withal
Your high displeasure. All this – uttered
With gentle breath, clam look, knees humbly bowed –
Could not take truce with the unruly spleen
Of Tybalt deaf to peace, but that he tilts
With piercing steel at bold Mercutio’s breast,
Who, all as hot, turns deadly point to point,
And, with a martial scorn, with one hand beats
Cold death aside and with the other sends
It back to Tybalt, whose dexterity
Retorts it. Romeo he cries aloud,
“Hold friends! Friends, part!” and swifter then his tongue
His agile arm beats down their fatal points,
And twixt them rushes; underneath whose arm
An envious thrust from Tybalt hit the life
Of stout Mercutio, and then Tybalt fled;
But by and by comes back to Romeo,
Who had but newly entertained revenge,
And to’t they go like lightning, for, ere I
Could draw to part them was stout Tybalt slain,
And, as he fell, did Romeo turn and fly.
This is the truth, or let Benvolio die.

Transcription from 1622 Quarto:

Tybalt here slain, whom Romeo’s hand did slay,
Romeo that spoke him fair, bid him bethink
How nice the quarrel was, and urged withal
Your high displeasure all this uttered.
With gentle breath, clam look, knees humbly bowed
Could not take truce with the unruly spleen
Of Tybalt deaf to peace, but that he tilts
With piercing steel at bold Mercutio’s breast,
Who all as hot, turns deadly point to point,
And with a Martial scorn, with one hand bears
Cold death aside, and with the other sends,
It back to Tybalt, whose dexterity
Retorts it, Romeo he cries aloud,
Hold friends, friends part, and swifter then his tongue,
His agile arm beats down their fatal points,
And twixt them rushes, underneath whose arm,
An envious thrust from Tybalt, hit the life
Of stout Mercutio, and then Tybalt fled,
But by and by comes back to Romeo,
Who had but newly entertained revenge,
And too’t they go like lightning, for ere I
Could draw to part them, stout Tybalt slain,
And as he fell, did Romeo turn and fly,
This is the truth, or let Benvolio die.

Transcription from Wells and Taylor Complete Works Edition:

Tybalt here slain, who Romeo’s hand did slay,
Romeo that spoke him fair, bid him bethink
How nice the quarrel was, and urged withal
Your high displeasure: all this uttered,
With gentle breath, calm look, knees humbly bowed
Could not take truce with the unruly spleen
Of Tybalt deaf to peace, but that he tilts
With piercing steel at bold Mercutio’s breast,
Who all as hot, turns deadly point to point,
And with a Martial scorn, with one hand beats
Cold death aside, and with the other sends
It back to Tybalt, whose dexterity
Retorts it, Romeo he cries aloud,
Hold friends, friends part, and swifter than his tongue,
His agent arm beats down their fatal points,
And twixt them rushes, underneath whose arm,
An envious thrust from Tybalt, hit the life
Of stout Mercutio, and then Tybalt fled,
But by and by comes back to Romeo,
Who had but newly entertained revenge,
And too it they go like lightning, for ere I
Could draw to part them, was stout Tybalt slain:
And as he fell, did Romeo turn and fly,
This is the truth, or let Benvolio die.

Works Cited:

Shakespeare, William. Romeo and Juliet. “The Complete Works of Shakespeare: Sixth Edition.” Ed. David Bevington. New York: Pearson Longman, 2009. 1009-1050. Print.

Shakespeare, William. Romeo and Juliet. “The Complete Works: Original-Spelling Edition.” Ed. Wells, Stanley and Taylor, Gary. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1986. 377-412. Print.

Shakespeare, William. The Most Excellent and Lamentable Tragedy, of Romeo and Juliet as it hath been sundry times publicly acted, by The King’s Majesties Servants at the Globe. Printed by Standsby, William. Sold by Smithwick, John at his shop in Saint Dunstan’s churchyard in Fleet Street. 1622. Web.

Pierce Hawkins - A Richard II Speech in Editions

A Richard II speech in Editions

As I transcribed and examined  three editions of King Richard’s speech, several things stood out as editorial issues that may have arisen during the process here. Two of the biggest that I came across was the choices to either keep or remove the parenthesis around “my tender-hearted cousin” and the addition of accent marks stressing the –ed ending on carved and despised. Whether to keep the parenthesis or not I believe comes entirely down to how one would interpret the delivery of those lines with it included. The stressed –ed endings become a matter of whether the iambic pentameter is complete with or without it. Another interesting matter is the changing of punctuation on lines. I had never thought that punctuation would be altered so freely. The colons seem fitting and choosing to remove them seems like an arbitrary decision to me. Another major issue I found was the difference in line numbers in the Folger’s Library edition. None of the lines of this particular speech were absent, yet the lines did not match, which makes it impossible to match accordingly should two people discuss the speech in the play, using two different editions and attempting to reference lines by number. Looking for a context for Richard II folios and quartos to place the piece, I accessed the notes provided by the British Library on the work and chose to include the bullet list they gave of the quartos and folios. I chose the 1608 fourth quarto printing.

What must the King do now? Must he submit?

The King shall do it: Must he be deposed?

The King shall be contented: Must he lose

The name of King? a God’s name let it go:

I’ll give my jewels for a set of beads:

My gorgeous palace, for a hermitage:

My gay apparel, for an alms-man’s gown:

My figured goblets, for a dish of wood:

My scepter, for a palmer’s walking staff:

My subjects, for a pair of carved saints:

And my large kingdom, for a little Grave,

A little little Grave, an obscure Grave;

Or, I’ll be buried in the King’s highway,

Some way of common trade, where subjects' feet

May hourly trample on their sovereign’s head;

For on my heart they tread now whilst I live:

And buried once, why not upon my head?

Aurmerle, though weepest (my tender-hearted cousin)

Our sighs, and they, shall lodge the summer corn,

And make a dearth in this revolting land:

Or shall we play the wantons with our woes,

And make some pretty match with shedding tears,

And thus to drop them still upon one place,

Till they have fretted us a pair of Graves

Within the earth: and therein laid; their lies

Two kinsmen digged their Graves with weeping eyes?

Would not this ill do well? Well well I see,

I talk but idly, and you laugh at me.

• First quarto, 1597. The text closest to Shakespeare’s holograph. His name does not appear on the title-page. It omits most of act 4, the deposition of the king.
• Second quarto, 1598. Printed from the first quarto. Shakespeare’s name is added to the title-page.
• Third quarto, 1598. Printed from the second quarto. (Copy from the Folger Shakespeare Library.)
• Fourth quarto, 1608. Printed from the third quarto. There are two states of the title-page, one with the ‘Lord Chamberlaine his seruantes’, the other with the up-to-date ‘Kings Maiesties seruantes’.This edition restores the missing deposition scene, but in an inferior version from a manuscript of uncertain origin. (Copy with title-page in the first state from the British Library. Copy with title-page in the second state from the Bodleian Library.)
• Fifth quarto, 1615. Printed from the fourth quarto.
• First folio, 1623. Printed mainly from the third quarto (some scholars maintain that the fifth quarto was used). This text restores the deposition scene in a good version. It may also have been based on a manuscript connected with the theatre (perhaps a promptbook).
• Second folio, 1632. Printed from the first folio.
• Sixth quarto, 1634. Printed from the second folio. (British Library, “Richard II”) 

The Folger Library General Reader’s Shakespeare edition of Richard II (1962)

-          Kept “A God’s” (3.3.155)—and placed possessive apostrophes in places where there original were none

-          Removed the parenthesis: “Aumerle, thou weepst, my tenderhearted cousin!” (3.3.169)

-          Interesting hyphen choice: “As thus—to drop the still upon one place/ Till they have gretted us a pair of graves/ Within the earth; and therein laid—there lies” (3.3.175-77)

-          Removed the colons in the beginning lines, removed the commas on the list of things to give up.

Wordsworth Classics Richard II (1993)

-          Did not remove the colons but still removed commas in the list.

-          Inserted an accent over carved and despised (é)

-          Included the original parenthesis: “Aumerle, thou weep’st (my tender-hearted cousin !),” (3.3.160)

-          The line numbers are different from Folger’s: 151-180 vs Wordsworth’s 143-171.

Bevington’s Richard II (2009)

-          Changed to “I’ God’s name” (3.3.146)

-          Line numbers match Wordsworth (1993)

-          Accent marks on carved and despised but in opposing direction to Wordsworth: (è)

-          The colons are removed as are the commas in the list

-          No parenthesis/exclamation: “Aumerle, though weep’st, my tenderhearted cousin” (3.3.160)