READ STUDY GUIDE: Act II, scenes i–ii |
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Act II, Scene ii:
A street
A street
| [Enter VIOLA, MALVOLIO following.] |
| MALVOLIO: |
| Were you not ev'n now with the Countess Olivia? |
| VIOLA: |
| Even now, sir; on a moderate pace I have since arriv'd but |
| hither. |
| MALVOLIO: |
| She returns this ring to you, sir; you might have sav'd me my |
| pains, to have taken it away yourself. She adds, moreover, that |
| you should put your lord into a desperate assurance she will none |
| of him; and one thing more, that you be never so hardy to come |
| again in his affairs, unless it be to report your lord's taking |
| of this. Receive it so. |
| VIOLA: |
| She took the ring of me; I'll none of it. |
| MALVOLIO: |
| Come, sir, you peevishly threw it to her; and her will is it |
| should be so return'd. If it be worth stooping for, there it lies |
| in your eye; if not, be it his that finds it. |
| [Exit.] |
| VIOLA: |
| I left no ring with her; what means this lady? |
| Fortune forbid my outside have not charm'd her! |
| She made good view of me; indeed, so much |
| That, methought, her eyes had lost her tongue, |
| For she did speak in starts distractedly. |
| She loves me, sure: the cunning of her passion |
| Invites me in this churlish messenger. |
| None of my lord's ring! why, he sent her none. |
| I am the man. If it be so, as 't is, |
| Poor lady, she were better love a dream. |
| Disguise, I see thou art a wickedness, |
| Wherein the pregnant enemy does much. |
| How easy is it for the proper-false |
| In women's waxen hearts to set their forms! |
| Alas, our frailty is the cause, not we! |
| For such as we are made of, such we be. |
| How will this fadge? my master loves her dearly; |
| And I, poor monster, fond as much on him, |
| And she, mistaken, seems to dote on me. |
| What will become of this? As I am man, |
| My state is desperate for my master's love; |
| As I am woman—now, alas the day!— |
| What thriftless sighs shall poor Olivia breathe! |
| O time, thou must untangle this, not I; |
| It is too hard a knot for me to untie! |
| [Exit.] |
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