To move beyond dictionary entries is to enter an area where theatrical effects can be generated not only by means of dialogue, costumes, and properties but also through the placement of various elements. From a playgoer's (as opposed to a reader's) perspective, when something happens onstage can make a big difference, especially if the timing of an entrance or action sets up a visible irony or strong image. Such effects, linked to the placement rather than the content of the extant stage directions, deserve consideration in any attempt to recover Shakespeare's theatrical vocabulary.

In this context, consider a phenomenon that turns up regularly in Shakespeare's plays but, to my knowledge, has not been seen as a category or family (in part because most family members have been screened out of our editions and often are not even cited in the textual apparatus). Let me characterize the larger category as juxtaposition (or overlap) in that elements that today's interpreter on the page or in the theatre would prefer to be kept discrete are apparently juxtaposed so as to coexist onstage at the same time. Some of these moments are so fleeting as to be negligible; some may be errors. Enough examples survive in the Shakespeare quartos and the Folio, however, to make the category worthy of investigation. A few, moreover, are meaty enough to warrant close attention.