Gill is an antagonist of the play, wife to Mak, and mother to several children. Cunning and deceitful, Gill is the mastermind behind the plan to disguise the stolen sheep as a newborn baby and to pretend she has just given birth in order to deceive the shepherds. Though she reminds Mak several times that theft is punishable by hanging, Gill is excited by the trick and wishes to help Mak with even more complicated schemes. Like Gyb’s wife, Gill nags Mak constantly, although Mak and Gill’s bickering is often playful.
Gill Quotes in The Second Shepherd’s Play
The The Second Shepherd’s Play quotes below are all either spoken by Gill or refer to Gill. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Scene 2
Quotes
Scene 4
Quotes
Were a worse plight, I’d find a way still.
Scene 6
Quotes
Oh, my belly! I die! / I vow to God so mild / If ever I you beguiled / Then I will eat this child / That doth in cradle lie!
Sirs, for this deed, take my advice instead / For this trespass. / We will neither curse not fight / Nor dispute our right / We’ll tie him up tight / And toss him in canvas.
Scene 7
Quotes
Thou hast cowed at last the devil so wild / The false beguiler now goes beguiled.
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire The Second Shepherd’s Play LitChart as a printable PDF.
Gill Character Timeline in The Second Shepherd’s Play
The timeline below shows where the character Gill appears in The Second Shepherd’s Play. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Scene 1
...has a house full of children that he is responsible for feeding. His gluttonous wife, Gill, does nothing but eat and drink, save for giving birth to one or two more...
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Scene 2
Pounding on the door to his shack, Mak calls out for his wife, Gill, to undo the latch. Gill is annoyed by the middle-of-the-night interruption, claiming she can’t make...
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Mak wants to eat the sheep immediately, but Gill stops him, reminding him that Coll, Gyb, and Daw will certainly suspect Mak of the...
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Scene 4
Mak returns to his hut from the fields. Beginning to feel nervous, Mak tells Gill that the shepherds will immediately suspect him when they realize one of their sheep is...
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Preparing for the shepherds’ imminent arrival, Gill tells Mak to sing a lullaby to the swaddled sheep while she groans in fake...
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Scene 5
...fields, the shepherds discover one of their sheep is missing and immediately suspect Mak and Gill. Angrily, the shepherds claim that they will not rest until they prove Mak guilty and...
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Scene 6
...and Daw arrive outside of Mak’s shack and are startled by the din Mak and Gill are making: Gill groans, while Mak sings abrasively and out of tune. The shepherds shout...
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Mak tells the shepherds that his dream about Gill giving birth in the night actually came true. The shepherds ignore his comment and tell...
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...innocent and tells the shepherds to search his house. As the shepherds begin their search, Gill turns hysterical, claiming the shepherds are here to rob them and must leave at once....
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...let alone any food whatsoever. Trying to ease the tension, Coll jokes that Mak and Gill’s newborn baby smells as bad as their sheep did. The shepherds apologize to Mak for...
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Coll and Gyb are amused by the cleverness of Mak and Gill’s trick, but Daw is infuriated, demanding Mak and Gill be hanged for their crime. Desperately,...
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Daw is adamant that Mak and Gill face the death penalty, but Coll compassionately spares Mak and Gill from being hanged. He...
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