No Fear Shakespeare
As You Like It
Get this No Fear to go!
Act 4, Scene 1, Page 4
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ROSALIND
Come, woo me, woo me, for now I am in a holiday humor,
and like enough to consent. What would you say to me now,
an I were your very, very Rosalind?
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ROSALIND
Come on, woo me, woo me. I’m in a good mood now and likely to give you what you want. What would you say to me now if I really were your precious little Rosalind?
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ORLANDO
I would kiss before I spoke.
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ORLANDO
I’d kiss you before I spoke.
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ROSALIND
Nay, you were better speak first, and when you were
graveled for lack of matter, you might take occasion to kiss.
Very good orators, when they are out, they will spit; and for
lovers lacking—God warn us—matter, the cleanliest shift
is to kiss.
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ROSALIND
No, it would be better to speak first and kiss only after you’ve run out of things to say. When good orators finish talking, they spit; when lovers do (God help us if they ever do), they kiss.
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ORLANDO
How if the kiss be denied?
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ORLANDO
What if she won’t kiss me?
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ROSALIND
Then she puts you to entreaty, and there begins new matter.
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ROSALIND
Then she’s making you beg, and that gives you a whole new set of things to talk about.
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ORLANDO
Who could be out, being before his beloved mistress?
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ORLANDO
Who could be out of things to say if he were with the girl he loves?
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ROSALIND
Marry, that should you if I were your mistress, or I should
think my honesty ranker than my wit.
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ROSALIND
Indeed, you would be out if I were your mistress—if my chastity is worth as much as my wit.
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ORLANDO
What, of my suit?
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ORLANDO
Would I be out of my suit?
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ROSALIND
Not out of your apparel, and yet out of your suit. Am not I
your Rosalind?
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ROSALIND
No, you’d still have your clothes on—but, yes, I wouldn’t think much of you. Aren’t I your Rosalind?
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