Jênisson (Aeneas)
What does "coal" mean here? Romeo and Juliet. SAMPSON Gregory, on my word, we’ll not carry coals. Modern text: SAMPSON Gregory, I swear, we can’t let them humiliate us. We won’t take their garbage. How carrying coals could humiliate them? Why did the modern version turn "coal" into "garbage"?
May 15, 2011 2:55 PM
Answers · 2
4
Coal - the black rocks that you put in the fireplace. It was seen as a job for servants and slaves not for people of status. If you were seen to do such a job, you would be humiliated. Today, "take their garbage" is the closest in sentiment (not meaning). You won't take any nonsense from them.
May 15, 2011
to carry coals = to be put upon; to submit to degradation or humiliation; to put up with insults;
May 15, 2011
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