READ STUDY GUIDE: Act II, scenes iii-iv |
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Act II, Scene iii:
3. The same. A street
3. The same. A street
| [Enter LAUNCE, leading a dog.] |
| LAUNCE: |
| Nay, 'twill be this hour ere I have done weeping; all the |
| kind of the Launces have this very fault. I have received my |
| proportion, like the prodigious son, and am going with Sir |
| Proteus to the imperial's court. I think Crab my dog be the |
| sourest-natured dog that lives: my mother weeping, my father |
| wailing, my sister crying, our maid howling, our cat wringing her |
| hands, and all our house in a great perplexity; yet did not this |
| cruel-hearted cur shed one tear. He is a stone, a very pebble |
| stone, and has no more pity in him than a dog; a Jew would have |
| wept to have seen our parting; why, my grandam having no eyes, |
| look you, wept herself blind at my parting. Nay, I'll show you |
| the manner of it. This shoe is my father; no, this left shoe is |
| my father; no, no, left shoe is my mother; nay, that cannot be so |
| neither; yes, it is so, it is so, it hath the worser sole. This |
| shoe with the hole in it is my mother, and this my father. A |
| vengeance on 't! There 'tis: now, sir, this staff is my sister, |
| for, look you, she is as white as a lily and as small as a wand; |
| this hat is Nan our maid; I am the dog; no, the dog is himself, |
| and I am the dog—O! the dog is me, and I am myself; ay, so, so. |
| Now come I to my father: 'Father, your blessing.' Now should not |
| the shoe speak a word for weeping; now should I kiss my father; |
| well, he weeps on. Now come I to my mother;—O, that she could |
| speak now like a wood woman! Well, I kiss her; why there 'tis; |
| here's my mother's breath up and down. Now come I to my sister; |
| mark the moan she makes. Now the dog all this while sheds not a |
| tear, nor speaks a word; but see how I lay the dust with my |
| tears. |
| [Enter PANTHINO.] |
| PANTHINO: |
| Launce, away, away, aboard! Thy master is shipped, and |
| thou art to post after with oars. What's the matter? Why weep'st |
| thou, man? Away, ass! You'll lose the tide if you tarry any |
| longer. |
| LAUNCE: |
| It is no matter if the tied were lost; for it is the |
| unkindest tied that ever any man tied. |
| PANTHINO: |
| What's the unkindest tide? |
| LAUNCE: |
| Why, he that's tied here, Crab, my dog. |
| PANTHINO: |
| Tut, man, I mean thou'lt lose the flood, and, in losing |
| the flood, lose thy voyage, and, in losing thy voyage, lose thy |
| master, and, in losing thy master, lose thy service, and, in |
| losing thy service,—Why dost thou stop my mouth? |
| LAUNCE: |
| For fear thou shouldst lose thy tongue. |
| PANTHINO: |
| Where should I lose my tongue? |
| LAUNCE: |
| In thy tale. |
| PANTHINO: |
| In thy tail! |
| LAUNCE: |
| Lose the tide, and the voyage, and the master, and the |
| service, and the tied! Why, man, if the river were dry, I am able |
| to fill it with my tears; if the wind were down, I could drive |
| the boat with my sighs. |
| PANTHINO: |
| Come, come away, man; I was sent to call thee. |
| LAUNCE: |
| Sir, call me what thou darest. |
| PANTHINO: |
| Will thou go? |
| LAUNCE: |
| Well, I will go. |
| [Exeunt.] |
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