Note the climax: “best attire” is weaker than “holiday,” and it than the strewing of flowers. Conversely, the emphasis on “now” diminishes at each repetition. The context should be carefully digested.
I rather tell thee what is to be fear’d
Than what I fear.
—Julius Caesar, Act i., Sc. 2.
An actor (?) was once heard to read the above passage, putting his emphasis on “thee” and the second “I.” How illuminating!
If ’twere done when ’tis done, then ’twere well
It were done quickly.
—Macbeth, Act i., Sc. 7.
The above is a fine illustration of the claim that the study of the “Central Idea” is essentially a logical process. Any other emphasis is puerile, and yet every other emphasis is heard except this. Let us look a little closer. The passage beginning with this line resolves itself into this: I am hampered with doubts and fears; I can find no rest by day or night until I kill the king or resolve to abandon the attempt. But if I can be assured that there shall be no after consequences here, I’ll risk the life to come. Hence, the following paraphrase is the equivalent of the first line: If it [the murder] were out of people’s minds, if it were blotted out of recollection, consigned to oblivion, when it is committed [when I do the murder], then the sooner it is done the better for my peace of mind. In a word, if it is all over when it is committed, “then ’twere well it were done quickly.” Many purposely avoid repeating the emphasis on “done” because they believe the two “done’s” are identical in meaning. Nothing could be farther from the truth, as shown above. The truth is, this line is one of those grim plays upon words in which Shakespeare is so prolific. It need hardly be added that when properly read the sense will be made clear by keeping in mind the paraphrase just given. The result will be that the first “done” will be read with a very decided falling inflection, and the second with a rising circumflex inflection (the mind looking forward at the end to the conclusion of the sentence). Perhaps to the sensitive student of literature there is another argument. Shakespeare’s vocabulary would indeed have been very limited had he found it necessary to use three “done’s” in the opening line of a most important soliloquy. To one who is alive to æsthetic effects, the very fact that Shakespeare does use them suggests a more careful analysis, and one soon discovers the cause. The play on the words makes the salient idea more striking.