RALPH: At this point, Romeo and Mercutio’s wordplay gets very complex, so we’re going to walk you through this long complicated joke, or “jest” as Mercutio refers to it.

SARAH: Mercutio begins by telling Romeo to follow along: 

RALPH: Follow me this jest now

SARAH: And then he continues as if Romeo were to physically follow him until he has worn out the soles of his lightweight dancing shoes, his pumps.

RALPH: Romeo is now left holding the jest, which Mercutio describes as being “solely singular.”

SARAH: The descriptive phrase “solely singular” has a double meaning. In one sense the jest has been left alone, “singular”, by the sole which has been worn away – it has been left sole-ly ... singular, all alone and sole-less.

RALPH: In a second sense, Mercutio is saying that his jest is totally unusual. It is singular in the sense that it has no equal in cleverness.

SARAH: Romeo then picks up on this second meaning and makes a stinging jest of his own. 

RALPH: O single-soled jest, solely singular for the singleness.

SARAH: He agrees that Mercutio’s “single-soled jest” is totally unusual, but he’s saying it’s unusual for its “singleness,” or simpleness – ouch!                     

RALPH: Although Romeo may call Mercutio’s jest simple, trying to decipher these witticisms is making my head spin. 

SARAH: And Mercutio must feel the same way because he now calls on Benvolio to step in and stop this war of wits between him and Romeo.

RALPH: Come between us, good Benvolio; my wits faint!

SARAH: It’s hard to imagine that anyone in an audience hearing these lines for the first time could possibly follow all this complicated wordplay. 

RALPH: Perhaps all this jesting was also “solely singular” in the sense that only one person could follow it, and that person was Shakespeare himself.