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All’s Well That Ends Well: Act IV, Scene 2

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All’s Well That Ends Well
Act IV, Scene 2

Florence . The Widow’s house .

Cassell's Illustrated Shakespeare

Here, take my ring! my house, mine honor, yea, my life, be thine, and I’ll be bid by thee.

From: Cassell's Illustrated Shakespeare

Mary Cowden Clarke, Charles Cowden Clarke, 1870

  1. Enter Bertram and the maid called Diana .

Bertram

1
  1. They told me that your name was Fontibell .

Diana

2
  1. No , my good lord , Diana .

Bertram

3 - 11
  1.                          Titled goddess ,
  2. And worth it , with addition ! But , fair soul ,
  3. In your fine frame hath love no quality ?
  4. If the quick fire of youth light not your mind ,
  5. You are no maiden , but a monument .
  6. When you are dead , you should be such a one
  7. As you are now ; for you are cold and stern ,
  8. And now you should be as your mother was
  9. When your sweet self was got .

Diana

12
  1. She then was honest .

Bertram

13
  1.                      So should you be .

Diana

14 - 16
  1.                   No ;
  2. My mother did but duty , such , my lord ,
  3. As you owe to your wife .

Bertram

17 - 21
  1.                          No more a’ that .
  2. I prithee do not strive against my vows .
  3. I was compell’d to her , but I love thee
  4. By love’s own sweet constraint , and will forever
  5. Do thee all rights of service .

Diana

22 - 25
  1.                                Ay , so you serve us
  2. Till we serve you ; but when you have our roses ,
  3. You barely leave our thorns to prick ourselves ,
  4. And mock us with our bareness .

Bertram

26
  1.                                How have I sworn !

Diana

27 - 37
  1. ’Tis not the many oaths that makes the truth ,
  2. But the plain single vow that is vow’d true .
  3. What is not holy , that we swear not by ,
  4. But take the High’st to witness . Then pray you tell me ,
  5. If I should swear by Jove’s great attributes
  6. I lov’d you dearly , would you believe my oaths
  7. When I did love you ill ? This has no holding ,
  8. To swear by Him whom I protest to love
  9. That I will work against Him ; therefore your oaths
  10. Are words and poor conditions , but unseal’d —
  11. At least in my opinion .

Bertram

38 - 44
  1.                         Change it , change it !
  2. Be not so holy - cruel . Love is holy ,
  3. And my integrity ne’er knew the crafts
  4. That you do charge men with . Stand no more off ,
  5. But give thyself unto my sick desires ,
  6. Who then recovers . Say thou art mine , and ever
  7. My love , as it begins , shall so persever .

Diana

45 - 46
  1. I see that men make rope’s in such a scarre ,
  2. That we’ll forsake ourselves . Give me that ring .

Bertram

47 - 48
  1. I’ll lend it thee , my dear ; but have no power
  2. To give it from me .

Diana

49
  1.                     Will you not , my lord ?

Bertram

50 - 53
  1. It is an honor ’longing to our house ,
  2. Bequeathed down from many ancestors ,
  3. Which were the greatest obloquy i’ th’ world
  4. In me to lose .

Diana

54 - 60
  1.                Mine honor’s such a ring ,
  2. My chastity’s the jewel of our house ,
  3. Bequeathed down from many ancestors ,
  4. Which were the greatest obloquy i’ th’ world
  5. In me to lose . Thus your own proper wisdom
  6. Brings in the champion Honor on my part ,
  7. Against your vain assault .

Bertram

61 - 63
  1.                            Here , take my ring !
  2. My house , mine honor , yea , my life , be thine ,
  3. And I’ll be bid by thee .

Diana

64 - 75
  1. When midnight comes , knock at my chamber - window ;
  2. I’ll order take my mother shall not hear .
  3. Now will I charge you in the band of truth ,
  4. When you have conquer’d my yet maiden bed ,
  5. Remain there but an hour , nor speak to me .
  6. My reasons are most strong , and you shall know them
  7. When back again this ring shall be deliver’d ;
  8. And on your finger in the night I’ll put
  9. Another ring , that what in time proceeds
  10. May token to the future our past deeds .
  11. Adieu till then , then fail not . You have won
  12. A wife of me , though there my hope be done .

Bertram

76
  1. A heaven on earth I have won by wooing thee .
  1. Exit .

Diana

77 - 86
  1. For which live long to thank both heaven and me !
  2. You may so in the end .
  3. My mother told me just how he would woo ,
  4. As if she sate in ’s heart . She says all men
  5. Have the like oaths . He had sworn to marry me
  6. When his wife’s dead ; therefore I’ll lie with him
  7. When I am buried . Since Frenchmen are so braid ,
  8. Marry that will , I live and die a maid .
  9. Only in this disguise I think’t no sin
  10. To cozen him that would unjustly win .
  1. Exit .
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