Though how he got "By my life, this is my lady’s hand! These be her very c’s, her u’s, and her t’s, and thus she makes her great P’s" past the Hays Office, I'll never know.
Replies
One has to imagine, or at least I have to imagine, that Will was writing that joke solely for his own amusement, because I can't imagine its making its way across the footlights if you don't already know it.
aug 31, 2025, 7:27 pm • 4 0 • view
Shakespeare wrote many blue jokes into all of his plays. Even the histories. Want the tea? Check out this podcast: open.spotify.com/show/1RXweY8...
aug 31, 2025, 7:31 pm • 2 0 • view
The Arden edition of the play has a nearly full-page-length footnote on this line. Lots of debate over whether the "and" should be pronounced "N," since both versions mean the same thing. Thus doth the whirligig of scholarship bring in its revenges.
aug 31, 2025, 7:47 pm • 1 0 • view
But, like, who could possibly catch that joke in the midst of Malvolio's reading scene? It's incredibly buried.
aug 31, 2025, 7:49 pm • 0 0 • view
Yes, which is why a lot of the speech it's in often gets trimmed -- and Malvolios usually ham up this line mercilessly. Just imagining Dinklage's crystalline diction with this line...
aug 31, 2025, 7:56 pm • 1 0 • view