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All Site ContentMidsummer Night's DreamAct 3Scene 2
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"his tender"
Metaphor
Act 3,
Scene 2
Lines 82-87

An explanation of the money metaphor in Act 3, Scene 2 of myShakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Demetrius

There is no following her in this fierce vein.
Here therefore for a while I will remain.
So sorrow's heaviness doth heavier grow
For debt that bankrupt sleep doth sorrow owe,
Which now in some slight measure it will pay
If, for his tender, here I make some stay.

Demetrius compares a sleep deficit to a money deficit. Sorrow causes you to lose sleep, which causes your sorrow to become heavier, resulting in a still larger sleep deficit. Likewise, interest payments on a debt reduce your cash flow, which results in more borrowing, resulting in an even larger debt, ending in bankruptcy. Demetrius is going to pay down his sleep deficit by resting here a while.