It is the fate of
Shakespeare to counteract his own pathos.
V.ii.65 (502,8) A murder, which I thought a sacrifice] This line is
difficult. _Thou hast hardened my heart, and makest me_ kill thee with
the rage of a _murderer_, when _I thought to have sacrificed_ thee to
justice with the calmness of a priest striking a victim.
It must not be omitted, that one of the elder quartos reads, _thou dost
stone_ thy _heart_; which I suspect to be genuine. The meaning then will
be, _thou forcest me_ to dismiss thee from the world in the state of the
_murdered_ without preparation for death, _when I intended_ that thy
punishment should have been a _sacrifice_ atoning for thy crime.
I am glad that I have ended my revisal of this dreadful scene. It is not
to be endured.
V.ii.134 (505,3) false as water] As water that will support no weight,
nor keep any impression.
V.ii.151 (506,4) villainy has made mocks with love] _Villainy_ has taken
advantage to _play upon_ the weakness of a violent passion.
V.ii.162 (506,5) Thou hast not half that power to do me harm, /As I have
to be hurt] [Hamner: to bear hurt] The Oxford Editor saw well the
meaning of his author, but weakened his expression. She means to say, _I
have in this cause power to endure more than thou hast power to
inflict_.
V.ii.183 (507, 6) charm your tongue] I know not whether I have read, or
whether my own thoughts hare suggested, an alteration of this passage.
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