My curiousity sometimes leads me down curious avenues, and when I was watching a DVD of Franco Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet recently, a bit of the dialogue didn't quite sit right.
The Nurse is trying to find Romeo to tell him where and when to meet Juliet, but he's hanging out with his friends. She has a go-around with sharp-tongued Mercutio, whom she declares a "scurvy knave." All right, that's good Shakespeare.
But then her servant Peter is rolling on the ground laughing, and she screams at him, kicks him down the steps, and bellows out, "Punk rampant!"
(with apologies: the video has been removed)
WTF?
Well it sounds good, but it ain't Shakespeare. Zeffirelli's film came out in 1968, so at first I suspected the line was contemporary, perhaps borrowed from Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange, the definitive film on punks rampant. But that didn't come out until 1971.
I did a Goodsearch for the phrase, but came up empty. So then I turned to Google Book Search, and by gum... It's from The Dutch Courtesan By John Marston, 1605:
So the phrase is authentically of Shakespeare's era (or a tad later) and not Zeffirelli's. But how modern is it! "Punk Rampant!" could describe any number of contemporary scurvy knaves.
Love, hosaa,
mind rampant
The Nurse is trying to find Romeo to tell him where and when to meet Juliet, but he's hanging out with his friends. She has a go-around with sharp-tongued Mercutio, whom she declares a "scurvy knave." All right, that's good Shakespeare.
But then her servant Peter is rolling on the ground laughing, and she screams at him, kicks him down the steps, and bellows out, "Punk rampant!"
(with apologies: the video has been removed)
WTF?
Well it sounds good, but it ain't Shakespeare. Zeffirelli's film came out in 1968, so at first I suspected the line was contemporary, perhaps borrowed from Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange, the definitive film on punks rampant. But that didn't come out until 1971.
I did a Goodsearch for the phrase, but came up empty. So then I turned to Google Book Search, and by gum... It's from The Dutch Courtesan By John Marston, 1605:
Freevill (to Franceschina): Go; y'are grown a punk rampant!
So the phrase is authentically of Shakespeare's era (or a tad later) and not Zeffirelli's. But how modern is it! "Punk Rampant!" could describe any number of contemporary scurvy knaves.
Love, hosaa,
mind rampant
exactly the same thing happened to me a mere three minutes ago. "punk rampant!" shrilled the nurse and i ... wot? that's nere not no shakespeare .. or is it? to my chagrin i was unsure, not familiar enough with the canon, sad to say, though you couldn't get a false line of scottish tragedy past me, nor any of the 'eneries. anyhow, thanks so much for setting me straight! hugh featherstone. www.hughfeatherstone.com
ReplyDeletethanks from me, too ... the same thing happened to me yesterday and i was glad to find your blog!
ReplyDeleteThanks also
ReplyDeleteIt’s a great line.
ReplyDeleteIt’s a great line. Well done.
ReplyDelete