The Complete Works of William Shakespeare In Plain and Simple English (Translated) (519 page)

So when he wakes, she will be the one he sees.

Enter HERMIA and DEMETRIUS

OBERON

Stand close: this is the same Athenian.

Stay here, this is the same Athenian I saw earlier.

PUCK

This is the woman, but not this the man.

This is the same woman... but this is not the man I saw.

DEMETRIUS

O, why rebuke you him that loves you so?

Oh why do you scold the man who loves you so much?

Lay breath so bitter on your bitter foe.

Save your cruel words for a cruel enemy.

HERMIA

Now I but chide; but I should use thee worse,

This is nothing, but I should be treating you worse

For thou, I fear, hast given me cause to curse,

Because I’m afraid you have given me reason to curse you.

If thou hast slain Lysander in his sleep,

If you have killed Lysander while he was asleep,

Being o'er shoes in blood, plunge in the deep,

Then, since you are already walking in blood, continue on

And kill me too.

And kill me too.

The sun was not so true unto the day

The sun didn’t shine on the day as steadily

As he to me: would he have stolen away

As he loved me: why would he have left

From sleeping Hermia? I'll believe as soon

Me while sleeping? I will believe that he did that as soon

This whole earth may be bored and that the moon

As the earth gets a hole drilled through it and the moon

May through the centre creep and so displease

Passes through the hole, disturbing

Her brother's noontide with Antipodes.

The tides at noon with its pull from a place opposite where it usually is.

It cannot be but thou hast murder'd him;

The only answer is that you murdered him;

So should a murderer look, so dead, so grim.

You look like a murderer anyway, so pale and ugly.

DEMETRIUS

So should the murder'd look, and so should I,

A murdered person looks like that too, which is who I really am,

Pierced through the heart with your stern cruelty:

Since you pierced my heart with your meanness.

Yet you, the murderer, look as bright, as clear,

And all the while you, the true murderer, look as beautiful

As yonder Venus in her glimmering sphere.

As the planet Venus there in the sky, glimmering.

HERMIA

What's this to my Lysander? where is he?

Why should I care about this as much as I care about Lysander? Where is he?

Ah, good Demetrius, wilt thou give him me?

Good Demetrius, please, will you give him to me?

DEMETRIUS

I had rather give his carcass to my hounds.

I’d rather give his dead body to my dogs.

HERMIA

Out, dog! out, cur! thou drivest me past the bounds

Get away from me you dog! You push me past the limits

Of maiden's patience. Hast thou slain him, then?

Of any woman’s patience. Have you killed him?

Henceforth be never number'd among men!

From now on I will never consider you a man!

O, once tell true, tell true, even for my sake!

For once, tell me the truth, for my sake!

Durst thou have look'd upon him being awake,

Would you dare to even look at him while he was awake,

And hast thou kill'd him sleeping? O brave touch!

And then you killed him when he fell asleep? O, you are so brave!

Could not a worm, an adder, do so much?

Even a worm or a snake could do that.

An adder did it; for with doubler tongue

And actually a snake did do it: for you have a more forked tongue

Than thine, thou serpent, never adder stung.

Than any snake, and are more a snake than an actual snake.

DEMETRIUS

You spend your passion on a misprised mood:

You are getting too passionate on something you have misunderstood:

I am not guilty of Lysander's blood;

I am not guilty of killing Lysander –

Nor is he dead, for aught that I can tell.

In fact, for all I know he isn’t even dead.

HERMIA

I pray thee, tell me then that he is well.

Please then, tell me he is alright.

DEMETRIUS

An if I could, what should I get therefore?

And if I could, what would that get me?

HERMIA

A privilege never to see me more.

The privilege of never seeing me again.

And from thy hated presence part I so:

I am leaving your presence which I hate so much:

See me no more, whether he be dead or no.

Do not see me again, whether he is dead or not.

Exit

DEMETRIUS

There is no following her in this fierce vein:

I should not follow her while she is this angry,

Here therefore for a while I will remain.

So I will stay here for a little.

So sorrow's heaviness doth heavier grow

The weight of sorrow grows even heavier

For debt that bankrupt sleep doth sorrow owe:

When one is behind on sleep.

Which now in some slight measure it will pay,

Now I’ll get a little bit of that sleep back,

If for his tender here I make some stay.

And sleep here to stave off the heaviness of sorrow.

Lies down and sleeps

OBERON

What hast thou done? thou hast mistaken quite

What have you done, Puck? You have mistakenly

And laid the love-juice on some true-love's sight:

Put the love potion on someone who has true love.

Of thy misprision must perforce ensue

Of your mistakes now what has happened

Some true love turn'd and not a false turn'd true.

Is the changing of some true love, and not a false love made true.

PUCK

Then fate o'er-rules, that, one man holding troth,

Then it must be fate that made it so one man who is truly in love

A million fail, confounding oath on oath.

fails his oaths like the millions of others who naturally break these oaths.

OBERON

About the wood go swifter than the wind,

Go faster than the wind through the forest

And Helena of Athens look thou find:

And find Helena of Athens.

All fancy-sick she is and pale of cheer,

She will look sick from unrequited love, pale, and joyless,

With sighs of love, that costs the fresh blood dear:

Sighing from her pain, which makes her pale.

By some illusion see thou bring her here:

Trick her into coming here

I'll charm his eyes against she do appear.

And I will enchant him with the potion for when she gets here.

PUCK

I go, I go; look how I go,

I go, I go, look how quickly I go,

Swifter than arrow from the Tartar's bow.

Faster than an arrow shot by a Tartar.

Exit

OBERON

Flower of this purple dye,

Purple flower,

Hit with Cupid's archery,

Hit by an arrow of Cupid,

Sink in apple of his eye.

Sink into his eyes.

When his love he doth espy,

When he sees his love,

Let her shine as gloriously

Let her be as beautiful

As the Venus of the sky.

As the planet Venus up in the sky.

When thou wakest, if she be by,

When you wake, if she is nearby,

Beg of her for remedy.

Beg her to love you and cure the coming lovesickness.

Re-enter PUCK

PUCK

Captain of our fairy band,

Captain of the fairies,

Helena is here at hand;

Helena is right here

And the youth, mistook by me,

And the boy I mistook is here as well

Pleading for a lover's fee.

Pleading for her love.

Shall we their fond pageant see?

Shall we watch what they do?

Lord, what fools these mortals be!

Oh these humans are so foolish!

OBERON

Stand aside: the noise they make

Stand here, the noise they make

Will cause Demetrius to awake.

Will wake up Demetrius.

PUCK

Then will two at once woo one;

Then two of them at once will be after one:

That must needs be sport alone;

That is sport enough to watch.

And those things do best please me

These mishaps please me

That befal preposterously.

From how preposterous they are.

Enter LYSANDER and HELENA

LYSANDER

Why should you think that I should woo in scorn?

Why do you think I am mocking you when I woo you?

Scorn and derision never come in tears:

I wouldn’t cry if I were making fun of you:

Look, when I vow, I weep; and vows so born,

Look how I cry as I pledge my love – pledges like this

In their nativity all truth appears.

Are born from honesty, and are thus true.

How can these things in me seem scorn to you,

How can you think that I am mocking you

Bearing the badge of faith, to prove them true?

When these things wear the badge of faith, my tears, to prove that they are real?

HELENA

You do advance your cunning more and more.

You are becoming more and more cunning.

When truth kills truth, O devilish-holy fray!

What a horrible thing it is when true vows run against opposite true vows!

These vows are Hermia's: will you give her o'er?

Your promises to Hermia – will you break them?

Weigh oath with oath, and you will nothing weigh:

Two oaths on opposing scales will balance out and lead you to neither decision:

Your vows to her and me, put in two scales,

Your promises to her, and now to me,

Will even weigh, and both as light as tales.

Weigh evenly – and I think they are as empty as myths.

LYSANDER

I had no judgment when to her I swore.

I was judging poorly when I swore my love to her.

HELENA

Nor none, in my mind, now you give her o'er.

And you have no judgment now, as you try to give her up.

LYSANDER

Demetrius loves her, and he loves not you.

Demetrius loves Hermia, anyway, he does not love you.

DEMETRIUS

[Awaking] O Helena, goddess, nymph, perfect, divine!

Oh Helena, goddess, fairy, perfect, divine!

To what, my love, shall I compare thine eyne?

What can I compare your beauty to?

Crystal is muddy. O, how ripe in show

Crystal is muddy. Oh your lips

Thy lips, those kissing cherries, tempting grow!

so ripe, like two cherries touching each other, are so tempting!