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The conventional way for lovers to behave in Elizabethan times was to be melancholy, mope about, complain about how hard-hearted their beloved was, predict their imminent death from lovesickness and generally sigh a lot. It's the way Romeo is carrying on in Act 1 of Romeo and Juliet.

The kind of furnace that Shakespeare is talking about is a forge used to heat iron in a blacksmith's shop. In order to increase the heat of the fire, a bellows is used to pump air at the fire. The wheezing of the bellows is what Jaques likens to the artificial sighing of the lover.

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13y ago

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