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All Site ContentMidsummer Night's DreamAct 3Scene 2
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"conjure"
Word Nerd
Act 3,
Scene 2
Lines 145-161

An explanation of the origins of the word “conjure” in Act 3, Scene 2 of myShakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Helena

O spite! O hell! I see you all are bent
To set against me for your merriment.
If you were civil and knew courtesy,
You would not do me thus much injury.
Can you not hate me — as I know you do —
But you must join in souls to mock me too?
If you were men, as men you are in show,
You would not use a gentle lady so,
To vow and swear and superpraise my parts
When I am sure you hate me with your hearts.
You both are rivals and love Hermia,
And now both rivals to mock Helena.
A trim exploit, a manly enterprise,
To conjure tears up in a poor maid's eyes
With your derision. None of noble sort
Would so offend a virgin, and extort
A poor soul's patience, all to make you sport.

The word "conjure" derives from the Latin con- (with) and iutare (an oath). Today, we only use it in a figurative sense in the expression "conjure up," meaning to make something appear as if by magic — particularly to make a spirit appear by reciting some magical words during a seance — and that’s how Helena’s using it here.