No Fear Shakespeare
Much Ado About Nothing
Get this No Fear to go!
Act 4, Scene 1, Page 3
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LEONATO
What do you mean, my lord?
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LEONATO
What do you mean, my lord?
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CLAUDIO
Not
to be married,
Not to knit my soul to an approvèd wanton.
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CLAUDIO
I won’t be married. I won’t join my soul to
such a proven slut.
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LEONATO
Dear my lord, if you in your own proof
Have vanquished the resistance of her youth
And made defeat of her virginity—
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LEONATO
My dear lord, if it was you who conquered her and took her
virginity—
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CLAUDIO
I know what you would say: if I have known her,
You will say she did embrace me as a husband,
And so extenuate the forehand sin.
No, Leonato,
I never tempted her with word too large
But, as a brother to his sister, showed
Bashful sincerity and comely love.
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CLAUDIO
I know what you’re about to say. If I had slept with
her, you’d say that we did so as husband and wife, merely
anticipating our eventual marriage. No, Leonato. I never seduced
her, or tempted her with indecent words. I treated her like a
brother would treat a sister, with modest sincerity and appropriate
affection.
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HERO
And seemed I ever otherwise to you?
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HERO
And have I ever seemed less than modest or appropriate to
you?
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CLAUDIO
Out on thee, seeming! I will write against it.
You seem to me as Dian in her orb,
As chaste as is the bud ere it be blown.
But you are more intemperate in your blood
Than Venus, or those pampered animals
That rage in savage sensuality.
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CLAUDIO
Curse you for your false appearances! To me, you seemed like Diana in her orbit—as virginal as the flower bud before
it blooms. But you’re actually as hot-blooded as Venus,
or a pampered animal allowed to run wild.
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HERO
Is my lord well, that he doth speak so wide?
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HERO
Are you sick, my lord? Is that why you’re talking so
wildly?
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LEONATO
Sweet Prince, why speak not you?
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LEONATO
Good Prince, say something!
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DON PEDRO
What
should I speak?
I stand dishonored, that have gone about
To link my dear friend to a common stale.
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DON PEDRO
What should I say? I’ve been dishonored: I arranged for
a friend of mine to marry a common whore.
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LEONATO
Are these things spoken, or do I but dream?
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LEONATO
Are you really saying these things, or am I dreaming?
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