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All Site ContentRomeo and JulietAct 2Scene 4
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"such a case as yours constrains a man to bow in the hams"
Innuendo
Act 2,
Scene 4
Lines 46-50

A play of the words "courtesy", "curtsy" and "bow" in myShakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 4.

Romeo

Pardon, good Mercutio, my business was great, and in
such a case as mine a man may strain courtesy.

Mercutio

That's as much as to say, such a case as yours constrains
a man to bow in the hams.

Romeo

Meaning, to curtsy.                                                      

“When Romeo says that his case may “strain courtesy”, it sounds as if he’s saying that his case may “con-strain curtsy”, require a curtsy, a bending of the legs (or a “bow in the hams'' as Mercutio puts it). Romeo probably did not get Mercutio’s innuendo.  "Case" is slang for the female genitalia, and a bowing of the hams (the thigh and buttocks) is the motion a man makes when having sexual intercourse.