BOTTOM        I see a voice. Now will I to the chink,

To spy and I can hear my Thisbe’s face.

Thisbe?

FLUTE            My love thou art, my love I think.

BOTTOM        Think what thou wilt, I am thy lover’s grace;

And like Limander, am I trusty still.

FLUTE And I, like Helen, till the Fates me kill.

BOTTOM        Not Shafalus to Procrus was so true.

FLUTE As Shafalus to Procrus, I to you.

BOTTOM        O kiss me through the hole of this vile Wall.

FLUTE I kiss the Wall’s hole, not your lips at all.      (5.1.191-200)

I see a voice! Of course Pyramus is getting it wrong, but whether it’s Quince or Bottom at fault is anyone’s guess. Now will I to the chink, to spy and I can hear my Thisbe’s face. Will I be able to see her through the hole in the wall? Thisbe? My love thou art, my love I think, obviously, because I can’t see you, but I THINK it’s you; Thisbe/Flute is more literal. But Pyramus is passionate, not to say a touch dismissive: think what thou wilt—it doesn’t matter what you think, darling—I am thy lover’s grace. It’s ME, PYRAMUS! And like Limander, am I trusty still—he means Leander, the ill-fated lover of Marlowe’s Hero and Leander, although it sounds just enough like Lysander to occasion a frisson of discomfort, perhaps—I’m faithful, faithful unto death! Thisbe is equally impassioned in her oaths and comparisons, and even more awkward: and I, like Helen—NOT the best example of fidelity, more an awful warning, although he probably means Hero? Helena, of course, has been the most faithful of the play’s lovers—till the Fates me kill. I too am faithful unto death! Not Shafalus to Procrus was so true: Pyramus/Bottom/Quince means the Ovidian lovers Cephalus and Procris, the former faithful, the latter, not so much, but it doesn’t matter, Flute’s on the same page: As Shafalus to Procrus, I to you. I will be as faithful as—them—to you too! At these dizzy heights of passion, Pyramus can’t help himself: O kiss me through the hole of this vile Wall! Poor Snout, he might very well take that personally—and he has to do the chink thing AGAIN, he is OVER the chink thing. Much comedy, kissing through the hole in the wall, or trying to, and the inevitable smutty response from the thwarted Thisbe: I kiss the Wall’s hole, not your lips at all. This isn’t the wholesome entertainment that Snout the respectable tinker signed up for thank you very much. But it’ll get a laugh.