Note 129 — NOTE ON SYMBOLS (continued 2)
Reading edition
Alphonsus, 163; K. to K. Honest Man, 71. The friar’s cell of T. G. V. i may be in an urban setting, as Silvia bids Eglamour go ‘out at the postern by the abbey wall’; that of R. J. II. iii, vi; III. iii; IV. i; V. 2 seems to be in rural environs. How far there is interior action is not clear. None is suggested by II. or V. In III. iii (Q2) the Friar bids Romeo ‘come forth’ (1), and Romeo falls ‘upon the ground’ (69). Then ‘Enter Nurse and knocke’ (71). After discussing the knock, which is twice repeated, the Friar bids Romeo ‘Run to my study’ and calls ‘I come’. Then ‘Enter Nurse’ (79) with ‘Let me come in’. Romeo has not gone, but is still ‘There on the ground’ (83). Q1 is in the main consistent with this, but the first s.d. is merely ‘Nurse knockes’, and after talking to Romeo, ‘Nurse offers to goe in and turnes againe’ (163). In IV. i (Q1, and Q2) the Friar observes Juliet coming ‘towards my Cell’ (17), and later Juliet says ‘Shut the door’ (44); cf. p. 83.