Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead- Notes and Vocab.

 

Act I

 

1. law of diminishing returns (13)-         A law affirming that to continue after a certain level of performance has been reached will result in a decline in effectiveness

 

2. cf. (16)-       From the Latin confer, meaning compare

 

3. expiating (20)-          Make amends for

 

4. flagrante delicto (23)-           In the very act of committing an offense; red-handed.

                                                In the act of having sex.

 

5. doublet (35)-            A man's close-fitting jacket; worn during the Renaissance

 

6. downgyved (35)-      Hanging down like gyves (A shackle or fetter, especially for the leg)

 

7. hie (38)-       Step on it; hasten

 

8. a grotesque (39)-      Art characterized by an incongruous mixture of parts of humans and animals interwoven with plants

 

NOTE: (41) Guil says: “Words, words.  They’re all we have to go on.”

 

Act II

 

1. Elsinore (55)-           A city of eastern Denmark north of Copenhagen on northern Sjaelland Island and the Oresund. Known since the 13th century, it is famous as the setting for Shakespeare's Hamlet, and performances of the play are often presented at the restored castle.

 

2. appurtenance (55)-   A supplementary component

 

3. clouts (55)-  Chiefly Midland U.S. A piece of cloth, especially a baby's diaper.

 

4. draught (59)-            A current of air (usually coming into a room or vehicle)

 

5. The Murder of Gonzago (61)-        A play Shakespeare evidently made up although, according to Boyce: SHAKESPEARE A TO Z, he may have been inspired by a real life event involving one Luigi Gonzaga. See Boyce p.239

 

NOTE: Like a nightingale at a Roman feast (62) refers to the fact that this was a favorite of the Romans, who domesticated the birds for the purpose of eating.

 

6. dumbshows (62)-     A performance using gestures and body movements without words; mimes

 

7. mincing (63)-            Walking daintily

 

8. Rosalinda (64)-        Character from As You Like It.  Variation on name.

Rosalind: the daughter of Duke Senior, she still lives with her cousin Celia and Duke Frederick at the beginning of the play. After Duke Frederick banishes her, she disguises herself as a young man named Ganymede and flees to the forest of Ardenne. She is in love with Orlando and marries him at the end.

Famous example from As You Like It

 

9. escapism (65)-         An inclination to retreat from unpleasant realities through diversion or fantasy

 

10. niggard (72)-          A selfish person who is unwilling to give or spend; miser

 

11. quietus (74)-           Euphemisms for death (based on an analogy between lying in a bed and in a tomb)

 

12. orisons (75)-          Reverent petition to a deity

 

13. petard (82)-           A explosive device used to break down a gate or wall

 

14. spurious (86)-         Plausible but false

                                    Intended to deceive

 

15. galvanized (89)-      To stimulate to action (not the metal meaning!)

 

16. knavish (91)-          Marked by skill in deception

 

17. coda (93)-              The closing section of a musical composition

 

18. ochres (94)-           Any of various earths containing silica and alumina and ferric oxide; used as a pigment

                                    A moderate yellow-orange to orange color

 

19. umber (94)-            An earth pigment

                                    A medium to dark brown color

 

Act III

 

1. larboard (98)-          The left side of a ship or aircraft to someone facing the bow or nose

                                    On the left-hand side of a vessel or aircraft when facing forward; port

 

2. stays (98)-    (nautical) a heavy rope or wire cable used as a support for a mast or spar

 

3. cox’n (98)-               colloquial for coxswain- The helmsman of a ship's boat or a racing crew

 

4. lee (98)-       Towards the side away from the wind

 

5. jib (98)-       Any triangular sail set forward of the foremast

 

6. tops’l (98)-               colloquial for topsail- A sail (or either of a pair of sails) immediately above the lowermost sail of a mast and supported by a topmast

 

7. truancy (101)-          Failure to attend (especially school)

 

8. surreptitiously (101)-            Marked by quiet and caution and secrecy; taking pains to avoid being observed

 

9. ventages (112)-        A small opening; a vent.

 

10. capons (117)-        Castrated male chickens

 

11. phlegmatic (119)-               Showing little emotion