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All Site ContentMidsummer Night's DreamAct 3Scene 2
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“Being o’er shoes in blood”
Language
Act 3,
Scene 2
Lines 43-49

An explanation of the phrase “Being o’er shoes in blood” in Act 3, Scene 2 of myShakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Demetrius

O, why rebuke you him that loves you so?
Lay breath so bitter on your bitter foe.

Hermia

Now I but chide, but I should use thee worse,
For thou, I fear, hast given me cause to curse.
If thou hast slain Lysander in his sleep,
Being o'er shoes in blood, plunge in the deep
And kill me too.

The phrase "to be over shoes" means to be in water so deep that it's over the top of your shoes. It’s used as a proverbial expression akin to “We have waded in this far, we might as well go all the way."