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No Fear Shakespheare

The Comedy of Errors

William Shakespeare

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Act 4, Scene 2

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Enter ADRIANA and LUCIANA
ADRIANA and LUCIANA enter.





5
 ADRIANA
Ah, Luciana, did he tempt thee so?
Mightst thou perceive austerely in his eye
That he did plead in earnest, yea or no?
Looked he or red or pale, or sad or merrily?
What observation mad’st thou in this case
Of his heart’s meteors tilting in his face?
 ADRIANA
Oh, Luciana, did he tempt you like that? Could you tell from his face if he was serious? Yes or no? Did he look flushed or pale? Sad or happy? Could you tell from his looks what he was feeling in his heart?

LUCIANA
First he denied you had in him no right.
 LUCIANA
First, he said you had no right to him.

ADRIANA
He meant he did me none; the more my spite.
 ADRIANA
He meant he did nothing right for me—which is true, unfortunately.

LUCIANA
Then swore he that he was a stranger here.
 LUCIANA
Then he swore he was a stranger here.

10		 ADRIANA
And true he swore, though yet forsworn he were.
 ADRIANA
And that’s true—he is being strange. And yet he lies as well, for he’s no stranger.

LUCIANA
Then pleaded I for you.
 LUCIANA
Then I pleaded for you.

ADRIANA
   And what said he?
 ADRIANA
And what did he say?

LUCIANA
That love i begged for you he begged of me.
 LUCIANA
That he felt for me the love that I begged him to feel for you.

ADRIANA
With what persuasion did he tempt thy love?
 ADRIANA
How did he try to persuade you to love him?


15		 LUCIANA
With words that in an honest suit might move.
First he did praise my beauty, then my speech.
 LUCIANA
With words that—if they were spoken honestly—might have moved me. First, he praised my beauty, then my eloquence.

ADRIANA
Did’st speak him fair?
 ADRIANA
Did you praise him as well?
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