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Home : Much Ado About Nothing : Act 4, scene i : page 174 Read the Study Guide: Much Ado About Nothing
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Much Ado About Nothing
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 BENEDICK
  Tarry, sweet Beatrice.
BENEDICK
Wait, sweet Beatrice.
 BEATRICE
  I am gone, though I am here. There is no love in you. Nay,
290 I pray you let me go.
BEATRICE
My body waits here, but the rest of me is gone. You don't really love me. I beg you to let me go.
 BENEDICK
  Beatrice—
BENEDICK
Beatrice—
 BEATRICE
  In faith, I will go.
BEATRICE
I swear, I'm going.
 BENEDICK
  We'll be friends first.
BENEDICK
Not until we part as friends.
 BEATRICE
  You dare easier be friends with me than fight with mine
295 enemy.
BEATRICE
How dare you try to be my friend when you refuse to fight my enemy.
 BENEDICK
  Is Claudio thine enemy?
BENEDICK
Is Claudio your enemy?
 BEATRICE
  Is he not approved in the height a villain, that hath
  slandered, scorned, dishonored my kinswoman? Oh, that I
  were a man! What, bear her in hand until they come to take
300 hands and then, with public accusation, uncovered
  slander, unmitigated rancor—O God, that I were a man! I
  would eat his heart in the marketplace.
BEATRICE
Hasn't he proven himself to be a great villain—slandering, scorning, and dishonoring my cousin? Oh, I wish I were a man! He pretended that everything was fine until the moment they were exchanging vows, and then—with public accusation, blatant slander, pure hatred—Oh God, if only I were a man! I would rip his heart out in public and eat it.
 BENEDICK
  Hear me, Beatrice—
BENEDICK
Listen to me, Beatrice—
 BEATRICE
  Talk with a man out at a window! A proper saying!
BEATRICE
Talking with a man outside her bedroom window! A likely story!
 BENEDICK
305 Nay, but Beatrice—
BENEDICK
No, but Beatrice—
 BEATRICE
  Sweet Hero, she is wronged, she is slandered, she is
  undone.
BEATRICE
Sweet Hero, she's been wronged, she's been slandered, she's been ruined.
 BENEDICK
  Beat—
BENEDICK
Beat—

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