INTRINSICATE

In the seconds before her death, Cleopatra instructs the serpent:

“With thy sharp teeth, this knot intrinsicate / Of life at once untie.”

Scholars debate whether ‘intrinsicate’ was a printer’s error,

and should have been either ‘intricate’ or ‘intrinsic’.

However, the metre of the line calls for a four syllable word,

so it is probable that Shakespeare intended the word “intrinsicate”

to be his vision of the human heart as both complex and crucial.

( Antony and Cleopatra V / ii )

credit: Georgemma