READ STUDY GUIDE: Act II, scenes ii–iii |
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Act II, Scene ii:
Another Room in Leonato's House.
Another Room in Leonato's House.
| [Enter Don John and Borachio.] |
| D. John. |
| It is so; the count Claudio shall marry the daughter of Leonato. |
| Bora. : |
| Yea, my lord, but I can cross it. |
| D. John. |
| Any bar, any cross, any impediment will be medicinable to me: |
| I am sick in displeasure to him; and whatsoever comes athwart his |
| affection ranges evenly with mine. How canst thou cross this |
| marriage? |
| Bora. : |
| Not honestly, my lord; but so covertly that no dishonesty |
| shall appear in me. |
| D. John. |
| Show me briefly how. |
| Bora. : |
| I think I told your lordship, a year since, how much I am in |
| the favour of Margaret, the waiting gentlewoman to Hero. |
| D. John. |
| I remember. |
| Bora. : |
| I can, at any unseasonable instant of the night, appoint her |
| to look out at her lady's chamber-window. |
| D. John. |
| What life is in that, to be the death of this marriage? |
| Bora. : |
| The poison of that lies in you to temper. Go you to the |
| prince your brother; spare not to tell him, that he hath wronged |
| his honour in marrying the renowned Claudio (whose estimation do |
| you mightily hold up) to a contaminated stale, such a one as |
| Hero. |
| D. John. |
| What proof shall I make of that? |
| Bora. : |
| Proof enough to misuse the prince, to vex Claudio, to undo |
| Hero, and kill Leonato: look you for any other issue? |
| D. John. |
| Only to despite them, I will endeavour anything. |
| Bora. : |
| Go then, find me a meet hour to draw don Pedro and the count |
| Claudio, alone: tell them that you know that Hero loves me; |
| intend a kind of zeal both to the prince and Claudio, as—in a |
| love of your brother's honour, who hath made this match; and his |
| friend's reputation, who is thus like to be cozened with the |
| semblance of a maid,—that you have discovered thus. They will |
| scarcely believe this without trial: offer them instances; which |
| shall bear no less likelihood than to see me at her chamber-window; |
| hear me call Margaret, Hero; hear Margaret term me Claudio; and |
| bring them to see this, the very night before the intended wedding: |
| for, in the mean time, I will so fashion the matter, that Hero |
| shall be absent; and there shall appear such seeming truth of |
| Hero's disloyalty, that jealousy shall be called assurance, and all |
| the preparation overthrown. |
| D. John. |
| Grow this to what adverse issue it can, I will put it in |
| practice: Be cunning in the working this, and thy fee is a |
| thousand ducats. |
| Bora. : |
| Be you constant in the accusation, and my cunning shall not |
| shame me. |
| D. John. |
| I will presently go learn their day of marriage. |
| [Exeunt.] |
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