dagger

widely used along with the poniard for (1) violence and threats of violence, (2) suicide, (3) other distinctive actions; for figures who enter with a dagger(often in his hand/drawn see Rare Triumphs, 1607; Cobbler’s Prophecy, 1326-7; Edward I, 830; Famous Victories, C2v; True Tragedy of Richard III, 1331-2, 2 Troublesome Reign, E3v; King Leir, 1453-4, Second Maiden’s Tragedy, 991; Queen’s Exchange, 540; figures are directed to pull out (Devil’s Charter, C2v), show (Massacre at Paris, 355; Whore of Babylon, 5.2.157), flourish daggers (Sir Thomas More, 1068); most common is the drawing of daggers (Antonio’s Revenge, 2.2.215; Trick to Catch the Old One, H1r; Queen of Corinth, 18; Fatal Contract, D1v, G2v, Claracilla, F12r; Distresses, 315; Princess, H3v; Royal Master, H4r); other actions with a dagger include snatch hold/take away (Cobbler’ s Prophecy, 1328-9, Sparagus Garden, I2v, King Leir, 1739, 1743), “offereth to throw his dagger” (Massacre at Paris, 1063), “holding a dagger fixed in his bleeding bosom”(Devil’s Charter, G2r),“Alberto draws out his dagger, Maria her knife, aiming to menace the Duke” (Antonio’s Revenge, 5.1.0),“She takes Plangus’s Dagger, flings it at Ephorbas and kills him” (Andromana, 270); daggers can be paired with other weapons such as a short sword (Estward Ho, A2r), rapier (Friar Bacon, 1819),foils (Q2 Hamlet, H3v, 5.2.224); to denote offstage violence a figure can enter “his Sword in one hand and in the other a bloody Dagger” (Love’s Sacrifice, 1584-5), “with a dagger in him” (Valentinian, 74); menacing actions include “sets a dagger to his breast” (Claracilla, F11v, see also Goblins 3.2.13), “bringing out their Mother one by one shoulder, and the other by the other with daggers in their hands” (Revenger’s Tragedy, H1v),“Syphax, his dagger twon about her hair, drags in Sophonisba in her nightgown petticoat” (Sophonisba, 3.1.9; see also Rebellion, 61), “takes up the child by the skirts of his long coat in one hand and draws his dagger with the other” (Yorkshire Tragedy, 506-8); in ‘Tis Pity Giovanni first “Offers his dagger” to his sister, saying “And here’s my breast, strike home!” and in the final scene enters (1.2.209; 5.6.9) the dagger’s association with violence is spelled out by a villain who “lays his finger on this mouth, and draw his dagger” (Antonio’s Revenge, 2.2.215)saying “Look here’s a trope: a true rogue’s lips are mute; / I do not use to speak, but execute.”

For example of daggers linked to suicide, Hieronimo enters “with a poniard in his hand, and a rope in the other”and subsequently “flings away the dagger and halter” (Spanish Tragedy, 3.12.0, 19; see also Looking Glass for London, 2041-2); to encourage suicide Mephostophilis gives a dagger to Faustus (Doctor Faustus,A 1317-18, B 1831-3) and Techelles offers “a naked dagger” to Agyday (1 Tamburlaine, 1072); for an interrupted suicide Romeo “offers to stab himself, and Nurse snatches the dagger away”(Q1 Romeo and Juliet, G1v, 3.3.108);other distinctive actions are “sweareth him on his Dagger” (Soliman and Perseda, B2v), “diggeth with his dagger”in a fit of madness (Spanish Tragedy, 3.12.71), “strike the stage with their daggers, and the grave openeth” (Antonio’s Revenge, 4.2.87),enter “with a piece of meat upon his dagger’s point” (Taming of a Shrew, D4v); see also Soliman and Perseda, H3r, Christian Turned Turk, C2v.

Alan C. Dessen and Leslie Thomson,A Dictionary of Stage Directions in English Drama 1580-1642(Cambridge: CUP, 1999), p. 64