Article: "The shard-borne [-born] beetle," Macbeth, 3.2.42-43.(Critical Essay)

"The shard-borne Beetle, with his drowsie hums, Hath rung Nights yawning Peale, [...]" (1)

This note calls attention to two references, hitherto unnoticed, I believe, that bear on the meaning of the well-known crux in Macbeth, 3.2.42: "shard-borne," the reading of the First Folio (F1; 1623) and F2 (1632) versus "shard born," the reading of F3 (1664) and F4 (1685), variant readings that have led editors to propose two significantly different definitions: "shard-borne," i.e., carried aloft on scaly wing cases or upper wings; "shard-born," i.e., bred in dung. (2) Shakespeare's use of "shards" and "sharded" in Antony and Cleopatra (3.2.20) and Cymbeline (3.3.20) are ...

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